Snowfall on Gotham
by Lawra
Summary: Since when was the training trip supposed to end? When Ranma's time in Nerima ends, his time in Gotham begins. Edit Formatting should be fixed
1. Big Game Hunting

A few things before the story gets started. Common convention is to take the Ranma manga as a single storyline. Time though does not pass between story arcs, and if it did, many things become broken. Such as how there are three new year festivals and Nabiki as well as Tatewaki are still in school. In simpler terms, the manga is a series of one shots that use the same characters. Some chapters don't even require Ranma and Genma ever meet the Tendo's. So for the purposes of this story I have gone through and gutted most of the chapters. To avoid any confusion, these are the changes that were made.

- Ranma timeline is a year after Jusenkyo.

- The first is that there is no Tendo engagement. Soun and Genma know each other and are friends, but Ranma has had minimal interaction with any of the Tendos outside of school.

- Ryoga and Ranma had several fights, losing interest in his rival, and without Akane there was a focus for him to torment Ranma, he more or less gives up his quest, having never learned that it was Ranma who cursed him.

- Without Ranma being volunteered for the rhythmic gymnastics tournament, Shampoo never found him, and Kodachi never gained an interest in him.

- Kuno does not like Ranma, but he only saw the pig tailed girl in passing, without ever getting into a fight.

- Some of the random stand alone chapters occurred.

- Happosai popped in at the Tendo's with different results that'll be dealt with in the story.

- Ukyo was in the process of transferring to Furinkan when Ranma was heading for Gotham. So they never met.

For the Batman Beyond timeline, the story picks up slightly before the beginning of the second season.

X x x x x x

Chapter 1 : Big Game Hunting

X x x x x x

Sunday Evening

"Don't you know it's dangerous for pretty girls like you to be out all alone?"

Ranma paused mid step, trying to reign in her smirk, and letting her backpack slip from her right shoulder to the ground. Fifteen minutes in Gotham city and she had already found some fun. Turning to face the male voice that had called out to her, she found herself facing a group of four guys dressed in wildly different, and eye catching clown suits.

"How bout you come with us? Show you a good time." The biggest one asked, his face painted with a big bright red smile.

"And if I said no?" Ranma asked as ignorantly as possible, having to raise a hand to cover her mouth to hide a smile.

"Well－ we can do this the fun way, or the fun way for us." A flabby guy shared a laugh with a short skinny one next to him.

"Ya know, I'm sorry I just can't do this. Can I just kick your ass and get it over with?" Dropping all pretense, she shrugged indifferently. The four guys shared confused looks before taking in what she had just said. "It's pretty good you guys are just mindless goons, you're not smart enough to be anything else." She poked at them.

Sidestepping the first clumsy grab at her, she struck the guy in the small of his back, sending him crashing face first into the wall. As the man groaned and slid to the ground, the rest of his joker friends seemed to have second thoughts. Gesturing with her hand for the next attempt, this time it was a punch, which she redirect across the man's body before twisting the elbow, and throwing him to land on the first attacker.

"Who's next?" She asked, glancing back at the two on the ground, and finding them slowly regaining their feet. Her eyes narrowed at a knife that was pulled out from the skinny ones pocket, and flicked open. He paid for it in the next instant, when she painfully wrenched it from his grasp, breaking several fingers in the process. The boy screamed and clutched as his hand when she released him. "Oops, was I too rough?"

"Get her!" The three non broken jokers attempted to jump her at the same time. Dropping down into a crouch, she swept out all three of their legs, causing them to fall clumsily to the ground.

"Boring." Cracking her knuckles, she glanced around at the three boys who were rising back to their feet. Two minutes later, she left the alley humming to herself. "And don't let me catch you doing whatever it was you were trying to do again." She said over her shoulder, earning a four person groan from the pile of boys.

X x x x x x

"Nice place." Ranma whistled, walking across some rocks through a traditional rock garden, the sand was freshly raked, and the few trees were neatly trimmed. The whole place was a two story structure spread out length wise to his position, done in shades of red, with large rectangular windows in the front showing the inside.

Traveling as a foreign exchange student, he would be in Gotham for an entire year, staying with a family called the Tan's. Who, if their houses location was any indication, were rather wealthy. Ringing the doorbell, he adjusted the strap of his pack, waiting patiently for someone to come to the door. Lights were on inside, and they knew that he was coming. He didn't have to wait long before a stout, but tall man, of Asian descent opened the door. Dressed in a collared white shirt, black dress pants, he looked like he had just gotten home from his job.

"You must be Ranma." The man greeted with a big smile, extending a hand to be shook. "I'm Clyde Tan, please come in, I'm sure it's been a long trek." (1)

"Thank you." Ranma shook the hand, and Mr. Tan stepped aside to let him in. Since there didn't seem to be a specific area for it, he removed his shoes to lay next to the door.

"How was the flight over?" Mr. Tan asked.

"Boring, and I had to sit through two really bad movies." He answered bluntly. "But the train was different, I've never been on one like it before." Ranma commented on the vertically running lifts to get people to and from the upper and lower layers of the city.

Gotham was a tiered city, without a restriction on the height of buildings, required transportation not only horizontally but vertically in order to move around the city. The home he would be staying in was actually part of a suburb built on the top of a group of buildings. The suburb was part of a residential block making up a city level. Included in the block was the school he would be attending, Hamilton Hill High School.

"I can see how Gotham will take some getting used to. I'm sure my daughter Dana will help you get up to speed." Clyde looked towards a large black couch facing the door, where a pretty girl his age with black hair and dark eyes was lounging in a pair of orange pajama pants, and a matching camisole top. "Dana get off that thing and at least say hello."

"Just－ a－ second." The girl rapidly typed on her laptop before finishing what she was doing and putting it aside to stand up. "Hi I'm Dana." She greeted.

"Ranma." He answered back.

"Dana, could you show Ranma to his room? I need to check on dinner."

"Sure Dad."

Ranma followed the girl who was about the same height as his female form, up the steps to a walkway that ran along the length of the main room. At the last room she entered, tapping the lightswitch as she did. On the far wall was a large window looking out over the backyard. To the right was a queen sized bed, while to the left was a simple desk. Everything was done in shades of green.

"This is our guest room, sorry if it's kind of barren." Dana said with a shrug.

"More than I've ever had." He gleefully dropped off his pack on the bed, and sat down to bounce on the mattress. "Never slept on a bed before, always a futon."

"I'll show you around school tomorrow, you can meet some of my friends, show you to some of the hang out spots. You don't happen to like dancing do you?"

"I've never danced before." He answered.

"Even if you don't, they have good food and tunes. So what do you like to do in your free time?"

"Usually if I'm not watching the net, I'm practicing my martial arts."

"Oooh, martial arts, you any good?"

"Very." He smirked. "Had to beat up some idiots wearing clown costumes when I first showed up."

"Really? Wow, must have been the Jokers." Dana gave him an impressed but skeptical look.

"Jokers? Some kind of gang?"

"Yes, they're spread all over the city, mostly they just harass people, and steal their money. It's good you weren't hurt."

"Any other bad guys I should know about?" Flipping open the top on his pack, he started to pull out his clothing to arrange them on his bed. Grabbing his computer, he flipped the lid up, and turned it on to check to see if he had any mail.

"I usually try and avoid trouble, but anybody wearing brightly colored clothing, is probably a bad guy."

"Good to know." He had mail from Hiroshi, who once again demanded that he send pictures of any pretty girls he saw. 'I don't even have a camera you twip.' As expected, nothing from his old man, who would learn how to use a computer over his cold dead, panda furred body. Meaning Ranma would have to call to tell his old man.

"Oh, and I hope you brought your swim trunks, we have a heated pool in the back, see." Dana pointed out the window.

"I can't really wear trunks anymore." He said absently.

"Speedo then?" Dana said suggestively.

"Actually it has to do with my water－ thing."

"Oh yea, we were wondering about that. Is it some kind of allergy?"

"You mind if I explain to you and your dad at the same time? It gets annoying explaining it repeatedly."

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to."

"Actually I have to, you'd find out either way." Closing up his computer, he wondered why Furinkan hadn't disclosed the information about his curse. He hadn't exactly been forth coming with it, but then again he didn't think that it would be an issue.

X x x x x x

'Well that was expected.' Ranma was laying on his new bed, staring up at the ceiling. While the Tan's had some misgivings about the origin and nature of his curse, they seemed to grudgingly accept it, and the need for discretion. After a year of living with the curse, he had learned long ago that attempting to hide it from people he was around in day to day life was impossible. That and always dousing himself with hot water attempting to keep it a secret got old fast.

"Hey Ranma." Dana knocked lightly on the door. "Sorry if I was a bit insensitive before."

"You haven't called me a freak or pervert, so you're already ahead of the game." He'd heard that enough from some girl called Akane at his last school when the curse had become known. Personally he thought it was just because he could swim, while she sunk like a stone. Then again, it probably hadn't been a great idea to rub that fact in her face at every opportunity, as well as a myriad of other insults for the foul tempered clumsy girl.

"Well I certainly don't think that, and I'm sure my dad will be fine when he gets to know you. He's real old fashioned. You've seen the garden in the front right?" Dana paused after her question. "So how much time do you spend as a girl?"

"Eh?" Raising himself up into a crosslegged position, that was the first time anyone had ever asked that. "Can't say that I've ever timed it."

"So－ what? You don't have a problem with changing bodies all the time?"

"Yea that bugs me, but after a month of having the curse, I was used to my girl form, but I still hate the switching."

"You've never seen a doctor about it?" Dana asked.

"You know any doctors who work with magic?" He laughed.

"Could be magic, could be something different. Haven't you heard about splicing?"

"Isn't that some thing with animals?" He asked, remembering that he had seen something like that on the news one day.

"Humans are animals."

"I fell into a mud hole out in the middle of nowhere, it's been happening there for thousands of years－ seems like magic to me." He answered sarcastically.

"Just throwing out ideas." She said defensively.

"It's alright, I've just heard it all before."

"Hmm, does this mean I have a new girl friend to hang around with?"

"No." He corrected.

"Gotcha, no fashion tips." Dana sighed. "Wish my life was half as interesting, I hate just asking questions."

"Well, what's exciting about your life?" Ranma asked, somewhat curious over what life in Gotham was like.

"Biggest thing I have going is my flaky boyfriend Terry and how he always has something to do for his boss."

"What's his job?"

"He's an errand boy for, get this, Bruce Wayne."

"Who's that?" He asked without a clue, but assuming he was an important figure.

"This really rich old guy, he vanished for a while but now he's always busy with something, and always taking up all of Terry's time."

"Don't know what to tell you." He said with a shrug.

"Sorry, just－ frustrating." Dana quickly checked the alarm clock next to the bed. "I better get to bed, don't want to be in a rush for the first day. Night."

X x x x x x

After getting his photo identification card, Ranma finally got into his homeroom. The locker he was assigned to keep his things in was different, and moving between every class would take some getting used to, as well as some more minor points of difference. His new school was very high tech and well funded, and looking at his class schedule the curriculum was designed to prepare students to enter college nearly a year ahead academically. A point the woman who had given him the information had said with pride.

When lunch hour rolled around, he was just swiping his ID card to open his locker when Dana showed up with a guy with her. "So we meet at last." The guy greeted, extending a hand to be shook. "Terry McGinnis."

"Ranma Saotome." He shook the guy's hand, remembering that this was Dana's boyfriend, and so he would probably be seeing a lot of him. Terry was several centimeters taller than himself, he had jet black hair, blue eyes, and athletic build. From the way he was standing he had some training on how to fight, or a great deal of experience.

"Better watch out Terry, keep being flaky, and Dana might go for this hunk." A pretty black girl with her hair colored pink joked, appearing at Dana's side while Ranma had been focused on Terry. "Maxine Gibson." She greeted. "But call me Max."

"Nice to meet you."

"Hey Howard!" Maxine called to an overweight short boy with black hair and thick glasses tinted bright green, as he hurried past their group.

"Hi guys." The pudgy boy replied. "Sorry gotta talk to Nelson." Ranma watched the boy rush up to a tall guy with brown hair, wearing a green and gold jacket. There were three other guys wearing the same kind of jacket, as well as several girls in cheerleader outfits with the same color scheme.

"Don't mind Howard." Terry rolled his eyes. "He's got a problem with wanting to be popular."

"So－ they are popular?" Ranma pointed towards the group who were ignoring the pudgy boy completely.

"If you consider jocks to be the height of popularity－ then yea." Max answered.

"Hmm." Ranma raised an eyebrow, debating if he wanted to show up the top dog, or stay out of trouble at school.

X x x x x x

School couldn't finish quickly enough. The teachers all seemed to repeat the same speech about class rules and expectations. Only exciting part was in physical education they let the class have the run of the gym. While there wasn't much to do besides play some basketball, it was still better than sitting at a desk. Now that school was done for the day, he was just exiting the glass doors at the front of the school, when one of the jocks he had seen earlier pushed roughly past him.

"Out of the way twip." The brown haired teen demanded roughly.

"That wasn't very nice." Ranma pushed back just as roughly, not expecting the retaliation, Ranma sent the boy falling on to his side. "Are all Americans as rude as you are?"

"You little piece of trash, who do you think you are?" Hastily regaining his feet, the teen made a clumsy grab at him.

"Ranma Saotome, you?" He answered, flicking the boy in the forehead with enough force to make him to stagger backwards.

"Nelson quit playing with the new kid and let's bail." Another jock demanded.

"You're just lucky I got places to be." The rude jock growled before storming off.

"Right." Ranma drawled.

"What's the rush?" Dana asked, exiting the school with Maxine and Terry with her.

"Just making some new friends." He answered, deciding that he wouldn't be staying low at this school.

"Do you have any homework?" She asked.

"Just a chapter of reading."

"Then let's go drop off our stuff and have some fun."

X x x x x x

"I'm almost getting dizzy from the height." Ranma was sitting in a train as it passed over a thousand foot drop to the street below. Tokyo had been rebuilt to be a tiered city as well, but not for the entire city, and definitely not to this level. He'd be fine if the floor didn't seem to keep dropping out into nothing. "So where to next?"

"Food?" Terry asked, sitting close to Dana.

"Rhino's Chili?" Dana suggested to Terry. "You ever have chili before?" She asked him.

"Maybe." He had to think about that. "If I have, I don't remember it."

"Well then you're in for a treat." Terry indicated as the train slowed to a stop at the next stop. "This is our stop then." Just as Ranma was getting off with Dana and Terry, the inevitable happened, some guy with his arm slung over a girl bumped into him and dumped a large cup filled with ice water all over his shirt.

"Whoops, sorry." The guy apologized. "Didn't see you there."

Slowly looking down, Ranma sighed, and pulled the wet material away from her chest. "Forget about it." Moving around the pair, she found Terry looking at her with wide eyes, and Dana looking very nervous. "I'll explain it over food." Terry continued to stare. "If you don't stop looking at me like I grew a second head, I'm going to throw you in front of the next train."

Terry snapped out of his surprise quickly after that. "Oh I gotta hear this."

It was a short walk to Rhino's Chili, which in the dimming light was in a purple two story trapezoid building. After getting some food suggested by Dana, they found a booth with few people around. "Alright, here's the short version. It's a curse I picked up in China, I'm really a guy, but cold water turns me into a girl. Hot water turns me back."

"Like all the way?"

"Yes all the way." Rubbing at her temples, she supposed that was the best case scenario. "Don't tell people, I don't like lots of people to know."

"Your secret is safe with me." Terry answered, sounding sincere.

"I'll hold you to that." Drinking some soft drink through a straw, she probably wouldn't do anything besides be annoyed if it got out.

"So how does it work?" Terry asked before she could try her chili.

"I don't know－ magic. How should I know? My old man actually turns into a giant panda. Those things have been extinct for twenty years."

"No way, do you have any pictures?" Dana asked.

"I might have some on my laptop." Using a spoon she took a bite of the chili. "Pretty good." She remarked.

"Extra spicy is my flavor of choice." Dana added, happily eating her own.

"That's the second time you've said that." Terry pointed out.

"And I'll say it a few more times if I want." Dana replied jokingly.

They finished dinner with some more idle chit chat, Terry asked a few more questions about the curse, minor stuff that was really specific for some reason. Such as how often she could change, was there a time limit, did her personality change, and wanted to know more about Jusenkyo. Dana had planned out the night to finish with some time spent at a local dance club. On the way though, they encountered a group of eight clown costumed gang members.

"Hey it's that little bitch who beat up my crew yesterday." A skinny clown with his face painted to look sad, pointed at her with a cast on his hand.

"More Jokers?" Ranma asked both Terry and Dana.

"Take a hike guys." Terry stepped towards the group.

"Oh we will, but not after we pay that little dreg back." Another with a small conical hat and big red nose took a step forward, smacking a fist into the palm of his other hand.

"Fun, I needed to get some exercise today." Ranma stepped past Terry and checked to make sure her belt was tight on her pants. "I'll even let you throw the first punch."

"I'll handle this." Terry tried to move in front of her but she knocked him back with a hit to his chest.

"No way, these guys are mine." Smiling, she glanced between the group of boys looking for the first taker.

The first one she dropped by dodging his fist and planting a knee upwards into his stomach, driving all the air from his lungs. The next several tried to rush her at once, and weaving through their clumsy grabs, she was past them to take out two who had been trying to wait in the background. Back handing another upside the head, he crashed to the ground, tripping up another that she kicked face first into the ground by jumping on his head. No one else tried to attack her, choosing instead to run away as fast as they could.

"Yo Terry, do you know what I should do with these guys?" She asked the shocked boy to make herself look really casual about the whole display.

"I'll－ uh－ call the cops, they're always looking to bust the Jokers" Terry answered, slowly pulling out a cell phone.

X x x x x x

Later that Night

Wearing the batsuit minus the cowl, Terry approached Bruce Wayne, who was taking his medication while sitting at the computer in the batcave. Ace was curled up near the chair, paying him little mind besides a distrustful look.

"So what happened yesterday?" The elderly man asked.

"Oh nothing much, met the guy who's staying with Dana, and watched him trash a group of Jokers. Guess you heard the police call?"

"Your name came up." Bruce turned to the computer and hit a button to bring up the police report they had spent a half hour going over with the two patrolmen who had arrived to pick up the Jokers.

"I take it you did some research on Ranma?" Leaning over the computer, he watched the screen flip to an image of Ranma.

"I did, turns out he's the son of a petty thief and a woman who came into a modest inheritance when her parents died. He's been living in the prefecture of Nerima in Tokyo and attending Furinkan High School up until his transfer to Hamilton Hill High School. Since age two he's been living with his father. Participated in several martial arts competitions, winning all but one, and he lost due to a technicality. Grades are average, but enough for him to get into the exchange program."

"So why the interest? Hey wait a minute, you don't have a big file on all my friends do you?" He stared at Bruce, who simply stared back blankly. "You do, don't you."

"There's something of an irregularity." Bruce didn't answer his assertion. "The report from last night indicated Ranma was a woman, and school records from Furinkan have a strange dual record."

"Yea about that." Scratching the back of his head he tried to figure out a way to avoid breaking his promise. "Fine, Ranma has some strange 'curse' as he calls it, that makes him change gender."

"Anymore specifics?"

"Nope, he was real secretive about it, but he needs cold water to turn into a girl, and hot to go back."

"Describe this other form." Bruce brought up a detailed file on Ranma and quickly added a new line.

"About the same height as Dana, black hair, dark blue eyes, and Asian I guess. They could be twins if they were separate people." Pulling on the cowl, he took a moment to adjust it to fit perfectly over his face. "When I get back from my patrol we're going to have a long talk about you and your paranoia."

X x x x x x

Thursday Morning

Textbook in hand, Ranma waited to see what was so important that a girl named Chelsea had to send notices to all the class for. He had immediately deleted the message, but Dana had mentioned the reason was that Chelsea was going to be spliced. Being slightly curious if the technology might be able to cure him, he had decided to see some results before checking it out. Dana came up with Terry at her side, the pair having lockers close together on the far end of the hall.

"You guys sticking around for the latest stunt?" Max asked as she joined them.

"Might as well, maybe she did something interesting for a change." Terry joked.

He had already become sort of an oddball at the school. Barely a week in and he already had a bit of a reputation for being mysterious. It hadn't taken him long to show up the more prominent jocks, and promptly declined the offers to join two sport teams. Chelsea Cunningham, a rich popular cheerleader who trailed after popular athletes like a small fish in a sharks wake, had started to focus on him because he wasn't charmed by whatever it was that made her so interesting to the rest of the males at the school.

There was a moderately sized group of guys and a couple girls were also waiting. The group hushed and parted as the short haired blonde Chelsea, who was wearing sunglasses, strutted through to stand on top of a bench in the center of the common room.

"Check it out." Slowly Chelsea pulled off the sunglasses instantly causing the group to start making cat calls. Dropping her glasses negligently, Chelsea spun around, and hopped off the bench to approach them. Her eyes had been altered into bright green cat eyes. Ranma shivered unconsciously, taken off guard by the sudden appearance of something cat like , Chelsea seeming to take this as some kind of positive reaction, with her smile growing wider. "Like what you see?"

"I can't believe it Chelsea, you really did get spliced!" Dana exclaimed, distracting Chelsea from him.

"Your dad must have threw a fit!" Max added.

"Isn't messing with your DNA a bit much, even for you?" Terry asked.

"Of course not." Chelsea protested, waving off any concerns. "It's perfectly safe."

"Then why is the city trying to shut it down?" Terry pushed.

"Lighten up Ter." Dana tapped Terry on the chest with a hand. "Adults are against practically everything we're into. You have to keep an open mind."

"Here's all the info." Chelsea pulled out a bunch of business cards from the front pocket of her skirt, and handed them out to all four of them. "If you want, I'd go with you." She said specifically to him, fluttering her eyes.

"Nah." He gulped, unnerved by the pair of cat eyes staring at him.

"You sure?" Chelsea took a small step forward. "We could make a date of it."

"No." He said more forcefully.

"How disappointing." The girl huffed and headed off to disperse more of the small business cards.

"Better be careful Ranma, Chels can play pretty rough when she doesn't get what she wants." Dana warned playfully.

"I think I can handle some pushy girl." He answered, flipping the business card into a nearby trash bin, but adding to himself that he wished she would never look at him with those cat eyes again.

X x x x x x

After school, Ranma returned to the Tan's home with Dana, before sitting down at the couch in the living room to do the reading he had been assigned. There was also a lesson in his math class he would need to do. The reading was the first six chapters of a book that he would have to do a report on for next Wednesday.

The whole reason he had joined the exchange program was so that he could meet some of the big name troublemakers that were reported to live in Gotham. But so far all he had found were some pathetic thugs. He really wanted to have a duel with Batman, having seen footage of the crime fighter combating a large construction robot, and reading up on some of the conflicts that the original had decades ago. Too bad all he seemed to have time for was homework to keep his grades up.

He was just finishing up with the second chapter when there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it." He volunteered, bored with the book, Ranma found that it was Terry who had knocked.

"Can I talk to you for just a second?" Terry asked. "In private."

"Sure." Stepping out, he closed the door behind him. "What's up?"

"I got a friend who I do some－ investigations for. Helping out the police kind of thing, but off the books. I need some help with this one."

"What kind of help?" He asked, hoping that it'd be something interesting.

"I need to go down to the Chimera Institute and check them out, as soon as possible."

"So why do you need me?"

"I have to be free to observe what's going on, I can't really do that if they're talking to me. Basically I need you to pose as my girlfriend while I scope out the place."

Ranma gave Terry an annoyed look for several seconds. "No, take Dana if you want that."

"That was my first thought, but she can't take care of herself like you can."

"You're expecting trouble?" He quirked his mouth to one side, wondering if there were people who got spliced to be physically better without training.

"No, but if I have to take off quick, it'd be nice not having to worry about her."

"What's in it for me? You want me to pose as your girlfriend to do some investigation, you going to pay me?"

"I don't really have any money to pay you." Terry answered. "It's more of a favor for a friend kind of thing."

"Pass then, and if Dana ever got wind of it." He didn't finish his thought, Dana had already faltered a bit and treated him like a girl in cursed form. Getting caught posing as Terry's girlfriend by Terry's real girlfriend could make things complicated. "I take it you can't really tell anybody what you're doing then?"

"Right, since you don't want to help, if I ask Dana, are you going to tell her the reason? It'd be safer if she really had no idea what was going on."

"I won't tell her." He answered.

"Thanks a lot." Terry didn't sound that thankful, but went inside to ask Dana to be his unwitting accomplice.

"Hmm." Scratching his chin, he followed the other teen inside, but instead of listening to Terry ask Dana, he headed for the bathroom.

X x x x x x

'One more thing that Bruce will add to the file.' Terry hurried Dana out the door, the Chimera Institute would be really close to closing by the time they could get across town to their building. Now he knew that Ranma was more mercenary than himself, and he wouldn't be expecting help from the guy. While he knew he had to keep the secret of Batman, having someone with Ranma's abilities as backup would have been nice.

"I know the place is going to close but what's the rush Terry?" Dana asked as he put an arm around her shoulder.

"Just don't want to go all the way there for nothing." He answered, stopping when he noticed a figure standing in their way with her hands on her hips.

"What's up?" Dana asked, immediately noticing Ranma.

"He asked me to go with him to the Chimera Institute." Ranma crossed her arms. "Then he takes off."

"But." He started to protest.

"Terry why didn't you say you invited Ranma?" Dana looked up at him.

"Um－." He floundered for a response, realizing that this was not a good situation for him to be in.

"You're such an idiot sometimes Ter." Dana broke away from him to start talking with Ranma. "So how are you liking the book so far?"

"Really boring, just some girl talking about her family, and some crazy guy who lives nearby." Ranma and Dana fell in step towards the train station without another word about him, and Terry wisely chose not to say anything. Instead he focused on reasoning out why Ranma had changed her mind. Was she playing some kind of mind game? Terry didn't know Ranma enough to make a call on that, but it seemed possible that Ranma simply liked playing games. Mean, spiteful games that may finally cause him to brake up with Dana.

Unlike the train ride that prompted his investigation into the Chimera Institute, where he had to knock around a pair of spliced up thugs, this ride was uneventful. Other than some suspicious looks in his direction from Dana, who still hadn't figured out a possible reason for him asking Ranma out as a girl. Terry had come up with the excuse that he had simply wanted to include Ranma. The fact that Ranma had changed to female form was harder to explain away. He would just have to say that Ranma had come up with that idea on her own.

Moving down one level and switching to another train, they finally arrived at the Chimera Institute. The five story building sat at the corner of Fritz and June street, and was painted a dark blue green color. Chimera was printed in big black letters across the front of the building, the company logo, a silhouette of three nested lion heads in black and white, sat just beneath the name. The main entrance was a line of glass doors up a one story flight of steps recessed back into the building underneath the logo.

A small crowd of eight protesters camped out in folding chairs on the sidewalk. As soon as the group saw them approaching they were immediately on their feet trying to block their path. They were primarily white, well dressed, and only one of them was near their age, the rest were old enough to be their parents. "Keep God's power in God's hand!" "Kids not freaks!" "Keep your humanity!" They all started shouting and shoving signs in their faces in one big confusing jumble.

X x x x x x

"This city loves it's crazy people." Ranma commented while sticking out her tongue at the angry group after hopping up to the top of the steps outside of the building. She had dealt with people like that before back in Nerima when her curse had come out. They were few and far between, but they were often very vocal.

"Must be something in the water." Terry added, passing through the automatic glass door with Dana. Pulling her eyelid down and sticking her tongue out one more time, Ranma followed the duo inside. The floor inside was some kind of reflective green stone, with plants placed around the room. The ceiling was two stories up, if something wasn't a shade of green it was a dark red orange. To the left was a half circle reception desk, on the right was a large doorway into a room with several tall screens switching slowly through displays of various spliced people.

"Hello, welcome to the Chimera Institute." A dark skinned woman in her early twenties greeted all three of them. She was wearing a pair of tight black pants with high heeled shoes built into the bottom, and a bright orange tube top. Around her neck were several large gold chains, and dangling from her ears were large golden hoops. It was immediately noticeable that she had been spliced with some type of feline, from the shape of her nose, her slit eyes, and pitch black semi circles that wove there way around her arms and shoulders.

Hiding her nervousness when the woman's eyes quickly inspected her, Ranma could get past the feline features easily enough. Whatever type of cat the woman had been spliced with, had only a passing resemblance to the domestic variety. It was just unnerving to see a human who was at the same time something else.

"I take it you are interested in information on splicing?" The woman asked.

"Yup." Dana answered.

"This way please." Being led into the room to the right, they were directed to take a set on several chairs around a center console. Reaching up to the ceiling was a cylinder made up of display screens. "This is our showroom, we can simulate any possible splice, all that is required is a photograph to get started. So who would like to go first?"

"Ranma?" Terry suggested.

"Nah." She had enough of her body shifting that she didn't need to see it become part animal. Too bad she didn't have a picture of her father to have them splice him into a panda so she could send it to him.

"I guess I will." Dana volunteered.

"Alright, just smile at the camera at the bottom of the screen." Reaching forward, the woman pushed several keys on a keyboard, while Dana posed for the picture. There was a brief grid of red lines that appeared over Dana's upper body before her image was displayed on the screen in front of them. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Not really." Dana answered.

"Something simple?" Pressing several buttons, the cat spliced woman made the image quickly shift, making Dana appear to have long pointed ears.

"What's that supposed to be?"

"For the fantasy crowd, it's only a minor difference, with a small combination of horse to produce the ear shape mimicking an elf."

"I'm not really into that stuff." Dana said after several seconds of deliberation.

The cat woman hit several more keys and the image of Dana morphed to have an almost completely cat face. Seeing that Dana wasn't interested in that, the image was changed again to have Dana with dark skin, two small horns sweeping back from either side of her forehead, black eyes with her pupils changed to a orange color.

"How many different things do you have?" Ranma asked as the screen morphed to show Dana with a normal face save two black slashes running down from the center of each eye.

"Currently we have over one hundred preset designs." A tall man with pale skin informed them as he walked casually through the doorway. He was wearing a completely black suit, with a skinny build except for his broad shoulders. He was spliced with some unknown creature, his eyes were a golden color, and his fingers had barely noticeable claws."Of course we can custom design nearly any result." The woman who had been helping them bowed her head and left them with the man.

"I'm Dr. Able Cuvier, the creator of splicing." He introduced himself smoothly, reaching forward to quickly type in something. Dana's image morphed to look like a cross of human and rabbit. "You're wise to come in now, if my critics like the ones camped out in front of my door had their way, splicing will go the way of the dinosaurs. Not that I don't plan to fight them tooth and nail."

"Why is that?" Terry asked.

"Progress always faces opposition. Splicing allows even the most physically unfit to be superior than an Olympic athlete. It's open to everyone, everyone has the possibility, everyone can be something special, equality is a hard thing for many people to understand." Cuvier glanced over at her. "Of course some things simply can't be created. I do hope you're interested in splicing."

"Not really" Ranma answered.

"That's too bad, forgive me if I am being far too forward, but I would like to ask you to become one of the faces that represent my company."

"Huh?" She asked.

"To be honest, to counter the recent slander campaign against splicing. My detractors love to focus on the more extreme and societal fringe results of splicing. So I wanted to show the more normal side."

"That's fine, but why me?"

"You're pretty but in an approachable way, casual even. It's not often that I see a young woman without make up, and those clothes." Cuvier chuckled to himself.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Ranma looked down at herself, sure they didn't really fit, even on her real form they were baggier than the current style tended towards.

"Yo! We need to see the Doctor, right now!" A rough male voice demanded as a large black teenager muscled his way through the entrance. Dressed in skintight red pants and tank top with a black vest and gloves, he also had two forward curving horns sprouting from his temples, and beard coming down from center of his chin. With him was a tall skinny teen with snake like skin, wearing a green tank top and black pants.

Cuvier reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card that he handed to her. "If you're interested in modeling for me, the shoot will be this Saturday, and I'll be willing to pay you thirty credits an hour. Give me a call when you've thought it over. If you'll excuse me." The man finished with a slight bow of his head.

"I'll think about it." Ranma answered as Cuvier quickly left without another word to take the two teens into a back room.

"Wow Ranma, looks like your－ you know, has paid off." Dana congratulated her, but she noticed Terry silently vanish out the door while Dana was distracted.

"I don't know, I wasn't really looking to get spliced." Scratching at her cheek, the striped woman returned to take Cuvier's place.

"Hey Ter, do you think－ where'd he go?" Dana had turned to look for her boyfriend but found him gone.

"I dunno." She answered with a shrug, pocketing the business card. "What's it feel like to be spliced?" Ranma asked the cat woman.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, it's something you have to experience for yourself." The woman answered. "Would you like to see some of the options?"

"Nah, I'll have to think about it."

X x x x x x

Dr. Able Cuvier listened patiently as one of his followers explained how they had been in a fight on a train, and that they weren't up to the level he had promised. Rolling his eyes, he lamented the need to recruit from the dregs of society. Ramrod, the new name that he had given the boy, was already three times as strong as a normal human could be. While the other King Cobra, was quicker but still significantly stronger. Neither of them should have had any trouble with throwing a normal human around like a rag doll.

"I'm sorry if you are dissatisfied with the gifts that I have bestowed upon you." He said calmly. "But I simply can't account for your own incompetence!" He shouted, striking Ramrod across the face and sending him sliding across the floor, King Cobra cringed away also expecting to be struck. "You are both stronger and faster than any human, if you're so pathetic that the two of you can't handle one, then I may no longer have a use for you."

"But Doc." They both protested.

"No excuses." He snapped. "Get out of my institute, I told you two imbeciles to never come here when you can be seen by the public." Snorting in disgust, he was happy Tigress was trustworthy enough to be seen as one of the public faces of his corporation. Once splicing was past this initial hurdle, he would no longer have to rely on thugs.

X x x x x x

Later that Night

"I got the data you wanted." Terry handed over the thumb drive with the information to Bruce. "Dana's going to hate me for a while for disappearing."

"She'll get over it." Bruce hooked the drive up to his computer, loading up the information.

"Thanks for the support. I'll be sure to tell her that you needed me for something right away." Leaning on the console, he watched some of the data scrolling by. "So what did you need this so badly for? Cuvier's operation maybe creepy but he wasn't trying to force people into splicing, and aside from the two goons it seemed legit."

"I have an antidote saved from years ago to another form of splicing. But I need to cross reference to see if there's a connection, and to create my own antidote."

"Why? I got that too."

"Details." Bruce answered simply.

"You've told me that before." He said and put on his mask. "I'll be out on patrol if you need me－ after I call and apologize to Dana."

X x x x x x

"No Terry, I don't care that Mr. Wayne needed you for something. Whatever it was, wasn't important enough to leave without saying a word." Dana clicked off her phone and threw it on the table next to the couch before sitting down. "Sorry you had to hear that." She apologized to Ranma who was playing with Dr. Cuvier's business card. His answer was just a simple grunt.

"So are you going to be a model?" She asked, trying to be happy that her new friend was able to simply get such an opportunity. Though she was a bit put off that someone who was really a boy was more desirable than her, especially while wearing baggy ill fitting male clothing.

"I'm not sure on the splicing part, but it's a lot of money for basically nothing." Ranma pointed out, balancing Dr. Cuvier's business card on the tip of his index finger.

"If you're not comfortable with it, maybe it's not for you."

"Supposed to be fully reversible right? Their site even says that it only takes about ten minutes each way."

"Hey, you could do it and tell me what it's like." She wasn't about to trust that tiger lady on splicing, it was her job to sell it after all, and it might be neat to try it out. Splicing was also nearly two hundred credits, with the reversal being just as expensive.

"If you're going to expect me to be some kind of guinea pig, what's the answer to number eight?"

X x x x x x

Saturday Morning

"You're right on time." Dr. Cuvier said happily, standing next to the reception desk at the portrait studio Ranma had been told to go to. It was seven thirty in the morning, and she would be here most of the day.

Allowing herself to be led into the building by the spliced doctor, she remained slightly apprehensive about what was about to happen. She had seen the results of splicing on people, and it was nothing compared to what Jusenkyo did to a person. Though some people did take the treatment too far, so much so that they might as well turn into the real animal.

"Now the treatment will only take five minutes to be complete, again it's completely painless, the most you'll feel is a bit of numbness or shifting. Just a small injection, and that's it." The doctor explained, leading Ranma to a small dressing room. "I hope you don't mind, but since I wasn't able to learn what type of splicing you would like done when you came in the other day, I had to use my own discretion."

"Long as I don't look like an idiot." She said with a shrug, removing her jacket to hang on a peg sticking out from the wall.

"I believe that would be an impossibility." Cuvier indicated that she should sit down in a tall folding chair in front of a large vanity table. "If you would please give me your arm, I'll give you the injection."

Extending her left arm, Ranma rolled up the sleeve of her shirt, and let the man wipe an area down with a disinfectant. Next, he opened up a plastic container, and pulled out an injection gun filled with a bright red liquid. With a soft hiss the small vial of liquid was pumped into her arm. Rubbing at the spot where the liquid had passed through her skin, she already felt sort of tingly.

"There, all done." Pulling out the empty vial, Cuvier threw it in the trash, and returned the injection gun to the case. "I'll be waiting with the photographer, a woman will be in to apply your makeup in a minute."

"Kay." Leaning back on the chair, Ranma watched the white skinned man leave. 'Hmm, he didn't tell me what he spliced me with.' No sooner had she wondered the animal, than she nearly fell out of the chair as a sudden spasm than ran through her body. Several seconds later, the alterations seemed to be completed, and she took stock of her changed face in the mirror.

'Guess it's not done.' She amended, watching her hair turn shades of white and gray starting at the roots to the tips.

Like the tiger spliced girl who Ranma had met at the Chimera building, Ranma's face had shifted, her nose flattening along the bridge, and semi melding with her upper lip, where a false cleft ran from the center of her nose to her upper lip. Her eyes had changed to a golden color with a slight hint of their original blue around the iris. Their shape had also been altered, becoming more of a true almond shape, with the skin pigment being darker around them, coming to points at the far outside, and curving downwards on the inside.

Prodding her new nose with her fingers, she found that the nails on her hands had lengthened, becoming thick white claws. Feeling a shiver run down her back, she twisted around on the seat to look at her back in the mirror, and found that there were dark skin pigment spots running down the back of her neck. Pulling off her shirt and stripping down to her white tanktop, she found that they grew into bigger irregularly shaped spots and rings as they ran down her back. Along the outside of her arms they faded into nothing just past her elbows.

Examining herself further in the mirror, to take in the entire set of changes, she finally realized something. "That jackass turned me into some kind of cat!" She growled.

A knock on the door alerted her to a woman in her thirties entering. This took Ranma's mind off the unfortunate additions to her person. "Hi, I'm Shelly." The woman greeted warmly before noticing Ranma's cross look, and closing the door. "Is something wrong?"

"Let's just get this over with." Getting angry at this woman wouldn't solve anything, and she had nothing to do with the animal Cuvier had spliced her with.

Crisis seemingly past, the woman went over to a rack of clothing running the far side of the room, and pulled out some white jeans with the shoes built into the bottom, and a darker blue capri top. "Casual to start, the top has a built in bra, and here are some panties that won't show since the pants are very low rise. Is this your first time modeling?"

"Yea."

"Okay, you get changed while I get my cosmetics setup." Shelly handed Ranma the clothes before starting to dig through the mess of make up on the vanity.

'Think about the credits, I can deal with this, and when it's over I'll be changed right back.' Taking several deep breaths, Ranma quickly stripped out of her clothes, and was just beginning to pull up the pants when there was a wrenching sensation from the bottom of her spine, and a long thickly furred tail quickly shot out. Staring blankly at the new appendage, she seriously considered killing Cuvier. 'After he pays me of course, with some added credits for this humiliation.'

"Oh good, I was thinking that we had made a mistake by putting a tail hole in the dresses." Shelly noted in an overly happy voice as Ranma finished putting on the top with an angry huff. "Alright, back on the chair." Hopping up on the chair, Ranma sat down on her tail before shifting and letting it dangle out through the back.

Shelly grabbed several hair accessories and pinned Ranma's bangs back out of her face. Raising several colored pieces of paper, she made a big show of placing them next to Ranma's skin. "Let's see here, this? No, too dark. How about this? Perfect."

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked, wondering why she was applying so much makeup, and having trouble ignoring the tail.

"Since you'll be out under bright lights you'll start to sweat, just want to make sure you don't look greasy." Quickly finishing with the base layer, Shelly's hands rapidly applied some more cosmetics, and went to work pulling out Ranma's pigtail and turning brushing it out to cascade over her shoulders. Fifteen minutes later, she was done, and Ranma now looked like a very cute cat girl. Which caused Ranma to shiver involuntarily.

"Something wrong? I think you turned out really beautiful."

"I don't like cats."

"Domestic cats or just cats in general?"

"In general." She answered, though only house cats caused her scream and run reflex. Thankfully whatever type of cat she had been spliced with was one of the big cat varieties.

" Well you'll be back to normal by the end of the day like the last model we had a shoot for. Have you seen the commercial? The girl with the long white hair to the floor?"

"Yea."

"She was spliced right before the shoot as well, afterwards it was reversed, and she walked out like like her DNA hadn't been played with."

"Really now." That set Ranma's mind on ease, even if that had been the plan before.

"One last thing, open up and say ah." Shelly grabbed a spray bottle. "Need to whiten up your teeth."

"What's wrong with my teeth?" Smiling at herself in the mirror, she found that her canines were larger and more pointed.

"Just want to make sure you look your best." Opening up her mouth, Ranma waited patiently for the woman to spray her teeth with a foul tasting whitener. "Hold off on drinking anything for fifteen minutes and I won't have to do that again."

"Yuck." She spat.

"We should get into the studio." Shelly quickly grabbed one of Ranma's shoulder straps, and made a minor adjustment. "They should be finishing up with the other model."

"What other model?" Ranma asked, following the woman, noticing that smells and sounds were more distinct and noticeable than before. The tail was impossible not to notice, it was heavy, moved constantly, and its movement was constantly throwing her off balance. It was also longer than her legs, meaning she had to purposely keep the bottom curled upwards or the tip would drag. Even though she had obviously never had a tail before, she had no trouble controlling it. 'Weird.'

"You'll be alternating with a male model, and I believe you are lined up to have a couple shoots together." Shelly explained.

Entering into another room, the ceiling, floor, and the far three walls were all painted a bright non reflective green. Cuvier was talking to a woman holding a camera, and there was a guy her age who was spliced with some type of canine, probably a wolf or husky based on his hair color, and some coloration on his arms. Unlike her, he lacked a tail, but had very canine like ears peeking out the top of his hair.

"Absolutely stunning." Cuvier complimented her. "I dare say you should refuse the reversal serum. Snow leopard suits you very well."

"A warning about the tail would have been nice." She crossed her arms, and the new appendage lashed back and forth several times, nearly throwing her off balance.

"Please accept my most sincerest apologies, if I knew that it would upset you, I would have said something."

"Yea, well I want something extra for this, I really don't like cats."

"What did you have in mind?" Cuvier seemed put off at her request.

"Ten extra credits an hour."

"Five." Cuvier countered and she thought it over in her head.

"Fine."

X x x x x x

"When is the last time you took a bath?" Ranma crinkled her nose while sitting next to the other model, Jake, trying to look like they were studying together. Now dressed in a thick pale pink turtle neck sweater dress to mid thigh, her tail went through a hole in the back, helping to keep the hem from riding up. Every so often the pair of fake glasses she was wearing would slide down her changed nose, and she would have to fix them back up into place. Sitting with her legs crossed, hip to hip with Jake, her patience was growing thin with the other teen.

"This morning." Jake answered as several more camera flashes went off.

The previous ad campaign had emphasized that splicers were different than normal people, this one was the opposite. She had gleamed the information from listening to Cuvier talk to various people. It was easy to listen in when she could pick up a conversation from across a noisy room. She was the eye candy female, while Jake was supposed to be some kind of popular jock. Unfortunately, she did not get along at all with Jake. He seemed to have grown up the son of a wealthy bureaucrat, he was doing this to get back at Daddy. Which was the opposite of herself, the son, currently daughter, of a poor martial artist who was a petty thief most of the time.

"Well you smell like wet dog." She sniped, and shifted her position in response to some directions.

"Children." Dr. Cuvier warning lightly from the side. "Please try and stay focused."

"That's all I need for this set." The photographer informed Cuvier.

"I think a break for lunch would be good then." Cuvier looked pleased with the progress so far.

Almost vanishing from her position, she deposited the fake glasses she had been wearing in the waiting hands of a girl keeping track of props, and appeared at a table with several trays of finger food. Gathering up a plate full of food, she stalked off happily munching on some kind of sandwich. No sooner had she sat down, than Dr. Cuvier approached her. 'What's he want now?'

"How are you enjoying being spliced?" He asked, implying that it was the greatest thing ever.

"About that, why is it that I don't feel uncomfortable like this? I'd think that the tail would take some getting used to." She asked after swallowing a big bite of bread, cheese, and sliced deli meat.

"Part of the formula helps to alter your mental image of yourself. Obviously even if someone wants to have a splicing procedure done, it would still take months, possibly years before they would view the additions as their own." Nodding her semi-understanding, Ranma hoped that Cuvier would leave her alone, he didn't rank very high in her favorite people list. Anyone who made her part cat was rather instantly shot to the bottom.

"And when you reverse it I'm going to be back to normal right?" She asked, noticing that he wasn't leaving.

"Of course, unless you decide to remain spliced. My business should be expanding soon. How about it? Would you like a more steady source of income?"

"No."

"Think on it." Finally Cuvier headed off to go do something in another room.

'Creepy.' Ranma shrugged and went back to eating her food.

X x x x x x

"My feet are killing me." Kicking off the too small shoes, she cursed the inventor of high heels, and then added on Jusenkyo for giving her the opportunity to wear such wonderful footwear.

"One must suffer for beauty." Shelly joked, gathering up her materials.

"Suffering I can take, but this is just ridiculous." Kicking the two sizes too small shoes for good measure, she started to strip out of the strapless black dress she had been wearing.

"Then it's a good thing that you're done for the day." Shelly paused to inspect a applicator, before deciding whatever flaw was fine, and putting it in her case. "Just take off your make up like you would normally before bed. Have a nice evening, it's been fun working with you."

"Bye." Ranma waved as the woman left, almost as quickly as she threw off the shoes, she was back in the clothes she had arrived in. Exiting the dressing room, she set about tracking down Cuvier for the reversal injection. She found him waiting at the entrance talking to Jake who was still in the tuxedo he had been wearing for their 'prom' shoot. "Fix me." She demanded.

"I would love to give you the serum to return you to your birth form, but the vials I brought have gone bad. We'll have to return to my lab and do it there. Unless you want to remain like Jake here." Cuvier put a hand on the male teen's shoulder. "He was just informing me that he wishes to remain spliced."

"So what's the fastest way to your lab?" Ranma didn't even have to think about it.

"I need to make a quick call, give me five minutes, and I'll drive you there personally."

"Alright." She agreed and Cuvier immediately pulled out a cell phone to call someone.

Cuvier seemed to drag his feet with everything, and Ranma was getting very agitated by the act. His comments during the photo shoot hadn't helped her mood towards him either. For some reason he was really interested in her remaining spliced. Pulling into Cuvier's private parking spot in the back of the Chimera Institute, Ranma followed him inside to be met by the tiger spliced black girl.

"Ah Tigress, how were things while I was away?" Cuvier asked.

"Busy Doctor." She answered. "I have a list of appointments for you to look over."

"Later, I must attend to Miss Saotome at the moment. Do you have what I called about earlier?"

"Yes Doctor." Tigress quickly went over to one of the nearby display tables and picked up a small silver case before opening it at Cuvier.

"Thank you my dear." Cuvier pulled out an injector and loaded a vial of serum. "If you would be so kind as to roll up your sleeve?" He asked and Ranma did, ready to end her time being spliced. Cuvier quickly disinfected the area, and injected her with the liquid. "There we go."

"So when am I going to get paid?" Ranma asked.

"Oh don't worry about that, Cobra, Ramrod." Cuvier snapped his fingers, and the two males from the other day quickly appeared. "Take her to the cage."

"Right away Doc." The bull boy answered, reaching out to try and grab her arms.

"What's going on?" She demanded, slipping away from his grasp before her entire body refused to work, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll.

"I really would have preferred that you come work for me, truly I would." Cuvier explained while she was picked up, and slung over the black boy's shoulder. "But it would be terribly bad press if the news caught wind that my advertising used subjects who did not remain spliced themselves. I don't know why I am explaining this, soon enough you won't have the mental facilities to understand what I'm saying." Being unable to move, Ranma could only watch her arms as they sprouted fur that matched the kind on her tail.

"In a hour or so you'll be a snow leopard for real, and I'll be selling you to the highest bidder. A great many hunters simply love to hunt endangered species, and they'll pay an exorbitant amount in order to do so." Cuvier patted her on the head and gave her a detached smile. "Goodbye."

X x x x x x

Slipping in through a window on the third story, Terry in the Batman suit, silently closed the pane of glass behind him. He had seen Cuvier's car pull into the back of the building, and he would be finding the man to get some answers about his past. The door to the room slid open silently and he moved down the hall.

"Anything suspicious so far?" Bruce Wayne asked.

"I'm just getting in now." He answered. "What's the rush? Ranma's been sort of keeping an eye on Cuvier all day."

"No rush, just making sure you're on task."

"Right." He drawled, pausing at the top of the steps down to the second floor after hearing voices. "Someone else is still here."

Downstairs he found Cuvier and three of his minions, the bull guy he had fought with on the train had an increasingly furry catgirl slung over his shoulder. Terry quickly recognized the girl as Ranma due to her clothes. "Looks like we'll need that formula pretty quick."

"Why?"

"Cause it looks like Ranma's going to need it." Watching, Terry saw the big guy leave the group to go through a door marked 'Employees Only.'

"When he gets back, I want you three to go take care of our D.A. Young, and make it look like an accident. I can't have the police tracing the death of my biggest opponent back to me." Cuvier informed the two other teens who had remained.

"We got another problem, Cuvier's sending his goon squad to slag Young." He informed Bruce.

"Worry about your friend first, I'll call Barbra and warn her."

"Right." Activating the camouflage system in his suit, Terry faded from sight. Making his way past the two waiting spliced teens, he waited for the third to come back through the door before he slipped in. Nearly falling when the floor suddenly dropped out on him, he found the unlit room was really a set of stairs. Adjusting his vision mode to better see in the dark, he descended the steps to the bottom. Once there, he took in the small room with a loading bay door on the far side, and a group of four cages along the right wall.

There was only one occupied cage, and he could see Ranma trying to move around, but ending up falling back to the cage bottom. Obviously whatever formula Cuvier had used on his currently female friend was playing havoc with her coordination, keeping her immobilized. "Take it easy." He whispered to the girl, Ranma's already changed eyes quickly tracking to him, glowing to his night vision. "I'm going to get you out of here."

He didn't have time to break the lock before something struck him from behind. Falling awkwardly, he was temporarily blinded when the bright overhead lights suddenly turned on. Fumbling to change his vision mode, he was hit several more times, this time by someone more heavily muscled, who used their fists. Finally being able to see, he dodged a charge by the bull spliced teen, letting him slam his head through the wall. Pausing, he quickly analyzed the situation, finding that Cuvier, and all three of his minions were in the small room. Reaching into his belt he quickly pulled out several smoke pellets secretly.

"I was wondering when you'd come sniffing around Batman, I have something I made up specifically for you." Cuvier seemed amused at his arrival. "Take him."

"I don't think so." Throwing the smoke pellets into the middle of the room, they exploded, quickly blanketing the entire area in a thick green smoke that irritated the eyes.

X x x x x x

"Open the loading door!" Cuvier yelled, fumbling to find the button to raise said door. One of his followers found the button, and the door to the outside slid open to let the smoke slowly clear. Coughing, he looked around for any sign of Batman. He found no one but his followers, and the girl he had injected with the pure snow leopard serum had been removed from her cage.

Clenching his teeth in anger, his three followers backed away in fright before he got himself under control. "Kill Young before Batman can get in the way." He ordered, smashing the now empty cage for emphasis of his displeasure.

X x x x x x

"I'm out of Cuvier's petting zoo with Ranma." Terry communicated to Bruce as he quickly shot through the sky in the Batmobile. "How's the Commish doing?"

"Barbra moved him to a safe house till morning."

"Phew, one less thing to worry about." Glancing backwards, he noticed that Ranma was nearly completely changed. "Other than the big cat that's trapped in the car with me."

"What was that? And why does your friend need the reversal serum."

"I'm not sure why, but Cuvier gave Ranma a jumbo dose of his stuff, and well－ she's not exactly looking at me in a nice curl up in someones lap and purr way."

"Save the jokes for later and just get back here. You need to go after Cuvier."

"Yea yea, you're not the one about to be a scratching post." He increased the vehicles speed, hoping to get back to the mansion before Ranma was no longer immobilized. The Batmobile was purely a one person vehicle, Ranma was laying in the space behind the seat, and if she decided to get up and start something it wouldn't be in Terry's best interests.

Swinging into the Batcave, he brought the vehicle to a stop near Bruce who was leaning heavily on his cane, with Ace at his side, while he carried an injector in his free hand. Opening up the door, he quickly gathered Ranma up in his arms, and got out of the vehicle.

"You weren't exaggerating." Bruce commented, quickly injecting Ranma with what would hopefully reverse the transformation. In response, Ranma gave off a high pitched snarl and was able to snap at Bruce with her jaws. "You're welcome." Bruce said directly at Ranma, who was now trying to free herself from his grasp. Ace growled at Ranma, who gave off a quick hiss at the dog before intensifying her efforts to escape.

"Shouldn't you give her a sedative or something?" Terry's question was answered when Ranma suddenly went limp in his arms. "Oh."

"Put him on the table next to the computer." Bruce instructed while hobbling over to the computer. "You have things to do remember?"

"I know." He did as instructed, already seeing that things were slowly and jerkily changing on Ranma. 'Least Ranma stayed about the same size, this would have been even more awkward if she was going to be naked.' He thought, heading off for the Batmobile, pleased that Ranma's clothing had remained intact.

X x x x x x

Ranma slowly opened her eyes, finding herself laying in a strange dark cave, cracking her back as she rose to a sitting position, she saw in front of her a huge computer system with an old man sitting at the only chair in front of it. He had his back to her, working on something on the screen. A sudden flash of memory made her quickly grab the side of her head, and examine her body. Sighing in happiness, there was no tail, no fur, no claws, and her face had returned to normal.

"There was a complication." The old man swiveled his chair to look at her, he was wearing a black suit, and had on a ridiculous hat and goggles in some attempt to keep his identity a secret. "My antigen was not able to return your hair and eye color."

"My hair?" Looking up, Ranma saw that her bangs were still the same mix of gray and white. Without a mirror she couldn't check her eye color.

"I'm also unsure on how it will affect your gender changing."

"How do you know about that?" She asked, the only people who would know did not include this guy.

"It's my job to know." At the man's side was a cane that he used to point towards a thermos next to her. Ranma finally noticed a large black Great Dane laying at the old man's feet. "Change."

"You're expecting a lot of trust out of me." She asked, staring at the thermos, her eyes catching sight of a display case behind her with five sections each with a different size and gender mannequin wearing costumes. The far left was the original Batman uniform, then Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and the last was empty. 'Is this guy?'

"I'm also the one that stopped you from spending the rest of your days hunting mountain goats."

Figuring that he had a decent point, she opened up the thermos to find hot water, she casually dumped over her head. Everything seemed to be right with his birth form, save the altered hair color. "Better than nothin." He admitted.

"I'm going to inject you with a sedative, you'll wake up in your bed." The goggle wearing man slowly stood up from the chair, leaning heavily on his cane, dog following protectively at his side.

"You better think again if you think I'm going to let anyone near me with a needle again." Hopping off the table, he stretched. "Just had a few problems with that, you understand?"

"I wasn't asking." Grabbing an injector gun like Cuvier had used, the old man approached him.

"And I said no thanks." Taking a small leap back, he wondered where the exit to the cave was. Best he could see was a lighted set of steps behind him. "Don't worry I'm not one to go around telling secrets. Thanks for changing me back, later." Waving, he took off to run up the steps. Just as he reached the top, a heavy metal door slammed in place blocking his path.

"That's just rude." Ranma pressed his palm against the steel, visually inspecting how it was constructed. Two halves, split horizontally, running on rails in the wall. Taking a step back, he clenched his fist. His first punch hit right at the seam between the two halves, knocking the door off of it's track. "Slag it that hurts!" He hopped around clutching his hand. Kicking the door, the slabs of steel were blown off their tracks, and clattered loudly as they crash to the ground.

"Sorry about your door!" Ranma yelled back down the hall. Checking the time on a big clock that was blocking the steps down into the cave, he found that it was almost two in the morning. 'I've been out of it for six hours? Man, I know I'm going to have to listen to Mr. Tan for staying out so late.'

X x x x x x

Author Notes

(1) – First name came from the voice actor, Clyde Kusatsu, since none was given in the show.

(2) – Bane derived steroid that instantly increases physical abilities, applied by a patch.

Ranma's lack of freakout on the cat part comes mainly by him being freaked out over domestic cats. That's his phobia. Cat-like, or big cats don't induce the same level of fear. He even puts tiger in the name of the ki attack he came up with. On top of that, in this stories timeline, he didn't have the extra exposure to cats he did in the neko-ken introduction, so his scream and run reflex hasn't been put on a hair trigger.


	2. Revenge

"Speech"

'Thought'

#Panda Sign#

X x x x x x

Ranma awoke to a horrible buzzing noise. He had heard it and several variations many times before, too many times to count. Flailing his right hand in an attempt to find the source of the noise, he had to drag himself across the bed to finally hit the snooze button. Dropping his arm to dangle over the edge of his bed, he tried to find reason to actually get up.

"Oh right, school－ ugh, so not worth it."

Mr. Tan had not been happy when he had arrived late last night, the stern man having stayed up to make sure he could give Ranma a strong speech about being home at a reasonable hour, and that it was unacceptable to show up at three in the morning. Glancing once more at the alarm clock, he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep.

Dragging himself downstairs, he actually decided to drink a cup of coffee, having heard it helped wake a person up. Sipping on the bitter liquid, Mr Tan was watching the net to see the morning news. Not paying much attention at first, he suddenly did when Cuvier was brought up.

"Last night an attempt was made on District Attorney Sam Young's life. A strong opponent to the latest teen fad known as splicing, the three attackers who's names are not being release yet, freely told police that Dr. Able Cuvier of the Cuvier institute, had targeted Young to remove the threat his legislation had to his operations. Batman, who foiled the attempt, also implicated Dr. Cuvier in an illegal trade of exotic and endangered animals to wealthy hunters. The full details of this have yet to be released. Dr. Cuvier remains at large, and he is presumed to be very dangerous."

'Good, I'm going to be the one to kick his ass.' Ranma sneered as the news kicked into more mundane matters.

"So why are you up so early?" Mr. Tan asked.

"School." He answered like it should have been obvious.

"But it's Sunday." The man pointed out. Ranma wanted to retort, but he realized that Mr. Tan was indeed correct, so he just slumped in his chair. A minute later Dana came down while dragging her feet on the carpet.

"Why did you have to set your alarm?" She groaned, rubbing at her eyes. "I can't get back to sleep if I get up."

"Had other things on my mind, sorry."

"Please don't do it again." Dana finally cleared away the sleep from her eyes long enough to look at him, she immediately locked on his white hair, then his eyes, then his hair again. "Alright, give me details." She demanded, taking a seat next to him. "I want to know everything."

"Not much to say." He answered like it had just been any normal day, avoiding her dig for information, not wanting to really remember the previous day.

"Oh yea? Then what's with the hair?"

"Ah, well－ it's－ apparently not everything is reversible." Scratching at the back of his head, he noticed for the first time that it slightly different, more dense and with a softer feel to it.

"I'm sorry, I thought you had just decided to keep some of it." Dana gave him a sincere apology, assuming correctly that he had not wanted to remain as such. "Is anything else－ stuck?"

"I haven't noticed anything else." He replied, although he did feel a little off, but he couldn't put his finger on what. Probably just his imagination playing with him from sleep deprivation, though a dark part of his mind wondered if there may in fact be something else.

"So how did the modeling go? Was it fun?"

"No, it was really boring, mostly just sitting around or posing while they took pictures."

"Did they let you keep any clothes? I bet they had designer brands." 's voice took on a dream quality at the idea of designer clothing.

"I didn't want to keep anything." He said simply, sipping at his coffee, deflating Dana's clothing talk.

"How about being spliced? What was that like?"

Ranma took a moment to actually think about that. "That was weird, it was just sort of－ normal."

"Normal?" Dana asked skeptically.

"Yea, everything just felt normal." He rephrased it, be told it was sort of like the curse, which after a while he often forgot about which body he currently inhabited.

"What did they splice you with?" Dana pressed, clearly not believing him. "Did you look like that tiger lady at their building? She looked really normal except her face."

"Kind of, it was a snow leopard." He answered. "Though I had a." Pausing, he was unsure if he wanted to let her know about the tail.

"What? Horns?" Dana switched to trying to make a joke.

"No, I didn't have any horns." Though there was someone with horns who would be getting it if he ever met with him again.

"Paws?"

"No."

"Well what then? Tentacles?"

"I had a tail alright." He blurted out to stop her questions.

"A tail." Dana said evenly. "And that felt normal to you?"

"They mess with your head a bit when they splice you." He explained quickly, finally finding the explanation that he wanted. "That's what makes it feel normal."

"Oh, why didn't you say that to start?"

"I'm tired." He pointed out, drinking some more coffee.

"Did you go out for a party afterward? I thought you were supposed to be back near dinnertime."

"No, not a party." He was not going to tell Dana or anyone else what had happened after the shoot.

"What was it then?"

"I gotta go get dressed, I have a big day planned." He hastily finished off his coffee, and took off for his room.

"When you get back I'm going to want to know more than that!" Dana called after him, clearly unsatisfied by his vague answers.

"Of course where do I go about finding that jackass." Ranma realized as soon as he reached his room. Obviously Cuvier wasn't going to be at his business, and Gotham was a really big metropolis, with an impossibly large number of hiding spots. So how could he hope to track down man, who was not trying to be found?

The cops were surely out looking and he didn't want them to find Cuvier before he got to show his displeasure. That Batman guy would probably be out as well, and if rumors were true, he would be the one to get the bad guy first. Inspiration hit him, he had met the man behind Batman, an old man in a cave but still. If nothing else he could find out some more about one of the reasons he had come to Gotham.

X x x x x x

Retracing his steps, Ranma returned to the old mansion he had come out of last night. The place was far enough and in an old enough part of town that no trains came within a kilometer. Pausing at the large gate blocking the drive up to the building, he inspected the large decorate plate on the stone pillars holding the gate.

"Wayne?" He thought, remembering that it was the same name as the man who Terry worked for. Deciding to be polite, he hit the call button on a panel. Ranma was almost ready to just jump the gate when a voice finally answered over the speaker.

"Yes?" The elderly man he had met last night asked.

"Yea, we met last night, I need to talk to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The man denied.

"You're not that old, old man. I know you work with Batman, it was you who helped me out last night, and I'm not leaving till I talk to you." Pushing the button too hard, he nearly broke it.

"Fine." The gate creaked and opened inwards towards the mansion.

X x x x x x

Terry was enjoying sleeping in after the hectic night he had last night. Unlike most of the time where he had to deal with that kind of thing on weeknights, on the weekend he could actually get enough sleep. His phone ringing completely ruined his morning.

"Yea?" He answered.

"I need you at the mansion, now." Bruce's voice commanded. "In the suit."

"Batman works at night." He pointed out, hoping that this was just a test to be sure he had the phone on him.

"Crime never sleeps." Bruce hung up without waiting for a response.

"Aw man." Dropping his phone back on his bedside table, he was really going to make whoever was dragging him out of bed sorry.

X x x x x x

"You wanted to talk." Mr. Wayne demanded from his front door, the big black dog standing attentively at his side. The white haired man a scowl on his face, didn't look like he was going to invite him in.

"I want to find Cuvier." He stated simply.

"Your help isn't needed."

"I'm not the type of guy to just sit around and let other people do things. least not without getting to watch."

"No."

"If I don't find him before the police get him, I'm not going to be able to pay him back." Ranma stared directly into the old man's faded blue eyes. "After what he was going to do to me." Closing his eyes, he didn't have the vocabulary to describe his anger.

"You don't want to bring Cuvier to justice, you want revenge." Wayne calmly explained.

"And what's wrong with that?" He nearly shouted, causing the dog to bark once at him. Ranma's response to the dog was to hiss angrily, shocking the canine. Realizing what he just did, he clapped his hands over his mouth. 'Did I just hiss－ like a－ cat?'

Mr. Wayne's eyes narrowed at him. "Come inside." He ordered, turning to walk back into the home. The dog cocked his head to the side briefly before following his master.

"Okay." He shut the door behind him and removed his shoes.

"Put your shoes back on, I need to analyze your genetic sample that I took last night." Wayne ordered. "can't do that up here."

"Kay." Following the elderly man down into the cave from last night. Having more free time, he could appreciate just how huge the cave was. It was also like a museum, with glass cases displaying various costumes and gadgets. Wayne wasted no time in sitting down at the large chair in front of the big computer screen.

"Don't touch anything." Wayne warned, rapidly typing on the keyboard, and bringing up information on him. Ranma came closer and stood behind the man, watching detailed information on him fly by.

"How do you know all this about me?" He asked, knowing that some of it would not have been possible to just look up.

"I have my ways."

"And why would you even want to spy on me?" Ranma couldn't see the reason why the man behind Batman, or Batman himself would be interested in him. Other than last night, he hadn't been involved in anything that the crime fighter was a part of.

Wayne didn't say anything but spun his chair around, and plucked a hair from Ranma's head. "Hey! What was that for?" He took a step back.

"I needed another genetic sample." The man responded casually, placing the hair on a small plastic dish that slid into a slot in the side of the computer. "I also need a blood sample to see if there is any trace of the splicing formula still active in your system."

"Bossy old man." Ranma mumbled outwardly, while internally he was happy that he was being helped in some way. Glancing down at the big dog looking at him curiously, he knelt down, and motioned for the animal to approach him. He had always liked dogs, in fact he even liked Ryoga's dog Shirokuro more than Ryoga himself.

"So what's this guy's name?" He asked, rubbing the dog behind the ears.

"Ace." Mr. Wayne answered without looking away from the computer screen as information rapidly scrolled by. Scratching at Ace's neck, Ranma caused his collar to jingle lightly. It was almost enough to drown out the soft footsteps approaching him from behind.

"I should be jealous." A gruff male voice said from behind him. Having heard the footsteps he didn't react at all. "I can't even say hello before he's on my case."

"I guess you're Batman?" Ranma asked while turning around. The male figure standing behind him wasn't much taller than himself. He was wearing a skintight black suit with a red bat logo on the chest. His eyes were covered by white lenses, and the only thing exposed as that his mouth had an opening in the mask. There was nothing that could be used to identify Batman, and Ranma had to admire the planning that had to go into an operation like this.

"Batman, I have things handled here." Mr. Wayne spun his chair around. "Cuvier's trail is going to get cold, I'd start by checking for any property he might have purchased through an alias or known associate."

"Good idea." Batman responded, heading off for a sleek black car parked a short distance out in the cave.

Ranma's vision blurred for a moment, remembering how she was thrown roughly into the metal cage, the door clanging shut behind her. Terror gripped her as her body rapidly and unstoppably continued it's transformation into a snow leopard. Unable to even raise her altered body from the floor, Batman became her savior, taking her from the cage to the black vehicle. Even though she had been saved from the fate of being hunted, Ranma quickly could remember no more.

Coming back to the real world, Ranma found that his breath was coming out in rapid gasps, and his entire body was shaking. Unable to stop, he sat with his back against the large table he had woken up on last night, staring forward a focus.

X x x x x x

Bruce loaded up the information that Terry had retrieved from Cuvier's computers. He hadn't had time to run through , and there was a good possibility that the serum used on his current house guest was simply not on file. The formula used by Cuvier in his every day business was designed for easy reversal. Which negated that formula instantly, because his antidote was compatible with that formula.

Running through more data, he came across a very disturbing entry. One that Cuvier had been very excited about. Immediately he hit the intercom to the Batsuit. "Batman, have you made any progress."

"Of course not, I've only been gone fifteen minutes." Terry answered after a moment.

"There's something you need to know."

"What is it?"

"Cuvier was trying to develop an airborne formula."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"You shouldn't, Cuvier doesn't just want to cause a 'splicing revolution' among the younger generation, he wants to force it on everyone." Scrolling through more of the entry he wanted to see if Cuvier had actually created such a weapon. "Luckily it seems to lose it's effectiveness within half a meter, so he doesn't have a way to currently deliver it any easier than the liquid form."

"Got it, no close contact."

"Don't be so casual, if he is able to hit you with this formula, it's permanent."

"Permanent?" Ranma suddenly spoke up behind him. The boy having been perfectly quiet up until now. "What do you mean permanent?" He was at his side in a flash, clearly panicking.

"Did he use an airborne variant on you?"

"No." The panicked boy answered.

"Then I wasn't talking about you." Bruce watched the teen sigh with relief, but he kept his mouth shut on his suspicions based off the lingering effects. Cuvier had made an attempt at assassinating the district attorney. Whether or not his flunkies had been ordered to announce their intentions or not, Cuvier was moving towards forcing splicing on the populace, and he couldn't have them curing themselves.

X x x x x x

Terry hopped out of the Batmobile on a rooftop nearby the police station where the three goons that Cuvier had sent to kill D.A. Young were being held. All three of them had been reverted to normal humans. Using his communicator, he dialed Barbara Gordon's number.

"Commissioner Gordon." The older woman answered within two rings.

"It's me." He said in his gruff Batman voice.

"What do you want?"

"I need to get in and talk to the three I brought in last night."

"Not happening kid."

"I wasn't really asking, I need to find out if they know anything about where Cuvier might be."

"And you think we can't? Listen, if I find you breaking in here, I am going to pull the plug on you, got it?" Barbara snapped.

"So as long as I don't get caught, got it." He clicked off the communicator before she could protest. Extending the flight wings on his back, he jumped off the roof to head to the police building.

X x x x x x

Tigress sat on her bed with her back against the wall of her cell. Glancing down at her hands for the thousandth time, she couldn't believe that her claws had been taken from her. Batman had taken so much from her with a single action, he had taken everything that made her, he had crippled her in ways he couldn't understand. Weak and frail, she was just a human now.

Dr. Cuvier would help her, when he finally achieved his dreams, there would be a special place at his side for her, his most trusted follower. This paltry sacrifice would be rewarded. Her internal musings were cut when the door to her cell clicked softly, and slid open to reveal nothing. Waiting several seconds, she wondered if she would be brought into some other room for questioning.

Sniffing, her woefully inadequate nose caught a familiar scent, and the air shimmered until Batman appeared out of nothing. "YOU!" She shouted, jumping off her bed to try and tear him apart with her hands. He was quicker though, ensnaring her arms, then legs in a bola line. Toppling to the ground, she made inarticulate snarling noises, struggling to free herself.

"Don't be so noisy, you'll alert the guards." Batman taunted her. "Where did Cuvier go to hide?"

"Like I'd tell you anything." She snarled.

"Cuvier left you to take the fall for him, why protect him?"

"Liar! Dr. Cuvier didn't leave me, I sacrificed myself for the sake of his dream."

"A dream that you can never be a part of."

"What do you mean?"

"That antidote I injected you with－ 's stuff isn't going to work on you ever again."

"No－ no you're lying!"

"Cuvier isn't going to come back, he isn't going to help you. What reason do you have to protect him?"

"He will, he will come for me!" She proclaimed, assured that she was right. Batman didn't answer, he just backed out the door, and vanished from view again. The door clicking shut once again. "He will." She said softly to herself.

X x x x x x

Ranma continued to frown, watching Bruce move through a never ending stream of data on his computer screen. Nearly all of the terminology being used was beyond him, so he watched for a few keywords. Yawning, it was a chore to keep his eyes open, when all he really wanted to do was to get more sleep. 'A long nap sounds so nice right now.' He mentally purred, stretching his arms high up over his head.

"Wayne." Batman's voice appeared from a speaker. "I'm sending you info on where Cuvier should be hiding."

"Who talked?" Wayne asked, hitting several keys that shifted the data on Cuvier's operation to fill half the screen, while the other half showed a map of Gotham, that zoomed into an area on the western end of town with a small red dot indicating the building.

"Goat boy, seems he wasn't as committed to the _cause _the other two. Not sure how reliable the info is, but it's a start. Anything new on the homefront?"

"No." Wayne answered.

"I'll contact you when I get there, Gordon locked off the cell block so it may be a while before I can slip out of here."

Ranma smiled, slipping away from the computer towards a sportbike he had seen. He had memorized the location that Cuvier was supposed to be at, and he wasn't going to let anyone else get a shot at the man before he did. Placing the helmet on his head, he straddled the seat, and tried to find a good position. (1)

'Okay, clutch, gas, brakes, I guess this is to shift. Alright, I can do this.' only a very vague idea on what it took to ride a motorbike, this was going to be a new experience. Finding the ignition, he pushed the button, and the bike clicked repeatedly but did not start. "Uh－ oh right the clutch." Squeezing the handle to the grip, he hit the button again, and the bike roared to life before quickly quieting down into a soft idle. Ranma blinked at the display that popped up on the visor in front of his face, showing speed, rpms, and fuel.

"What are you doing?" Wayne's voice was level by carried just how angry he was. The elderly man had risen from his computer chair, and was now hobbling towards him.

Accidentally releasing the clutch to raise the visor on the helmet, the bike rocked forward as the engine cut out. "Sorry, but I'm going to be the first one to beat Cuvier in the ground."

"Get off that RIGHT now." Bruce increased his speed.

"Sorry old man." Ranma popped the visor down and turned the bike back on. Releasing the clutch and giving it gas, the bike stuttered forward before he released the clutch all the way, and added enough gas. Twisting the grip too far, the tires spun out on the slick floor, and the bike swung sideways. Aiming the front wheel towards the steps, the tires finally found grip, and he rocketed up into the mansion, and through the grandfather clock at the top.

Hitting the brake, he took a second to brush off debris before heading for the front door at a far slower pace. Hopping off the bike, he kept one hand on the clutch to open up the door, before heading off into the yard. Slowing down as he arrived at the gate, he was at a loss on how to open the iron structure. Then again, he didn't really have to.

Letting the bike engine die down, he found good hand holds, and jumped over the gate with a minor amount of difficulty. Grunting when he landed, he set the bike down, and took off down the road, focusing on the fuzzy mental map he had of Gotham's streets, and how he could get to Cuvier's location.

X x x x x x

Ranma was just starting to enjoy himself upon the motorbike when the engine sputtered, chugged, and then cut out. Since he was still in gear, the bike slowed with violent force, and he was nearly thrown off. Swerving wildly, a truck almost clipped him before he could get over to the side of the road.

"Ugh, this stupid thing." Ranma threw off his helmet and kicked at the plastic side panel.

Sighing, he was only about halfway to his destination. Wayne's place was on the North end of the city, and he had been taking a diagonal route that would minimize the amount of roads he needed to take. Sitting down on the barrier stopping people from driving over the side, he watched the vehicles fly and roll by.

Glancing back over the edge, and down to the lowest level of the city. He traced various roadways as they lead in the direction he needed to go, he realized that if he tried that, it wouldn't take long to get lost. A single whine of a police siren accompanied by a bright flash of lights alerted him to a flying patrol car as it came to rest on the side of the road in front of the bike.

"Troubles?" A male officer asked, stepping from the vehicle, and approaching him.

"Out of fuel." He shrugged.

"Kids." The officer shook his head, and opened up the trunk of his patrol car to pull out a cylinder fifteen centimeters long and five in diameter. "Always going out without a spare fuel cell. How bout a trade."

"Thanks." Ranma replied sincerely, letting the officer pull the spent one from the bike, and inserting the full one into its slot on the right side.

"So where you headed?"

"No place." He dodged the question. "Just－ out for a ride. Ya know, since it's such a nice day."

"It is isn't it? Well, there you go." The officer put the spent cell into his trunk. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks again." Ranma smirked and put the helmet back on before taking a seat on the bike. Letting the cop pull out and take off, he finally started the bike up, and started his journey again.

X x x x x x

"I found him." Terry alerted Wayne over the intercom. Following after Ranma in the Batmobile, since it was daylight out he needed to use the cloak. Yawning, he rubbed at his eyes, wishing he could have waited till after some sleep before having to deal with all of this. "Looks like a cop is following him now. Must have ran the plate."

"That complicates matters, you should get to Cuvier's location and check it out before your _friend _get there."

"Already on it." Increasing his speed, he sped off in a more direct shot to the address he had been able to drag out of Cuvier's goon. Slowing to a halt two buildings away from the target one, he gave a disgusted groan. "You got to be kidding me."

"What is it?" Wayne asked.

"It's an abandoned taxidermy business."

"No one ever said criminals were smart."

"Ugh, from now on I'm just going to look for the most cliched hide out spots imaginable, cause this is ridiculous." Hitting the eject button, the floor dropped out from him, and he landed lightly on the rooftop below. Catching the dart gun that dropped a half second later, he checked to make sure that it was loaded before attaching it to his belt. "Time to go to work."

X x x x x x

Hopping down from the skylight and on to a second story walkway that wrapped around a large room, Terry scanned it from left to right, before deciding the Cuvier wasn't waiting to jump out at him. Standing up straighter, he glanced at some of the dusty figures that were still contained in the building. Dropping down to the lower show room floor, he heard the sound of movement from down a set of stairs.

Walking down them as softly as he could, he came to a landing that opened up into another two story room, with the steps spiraling to the right to continue down to the floor. Moving slowly, he kept the dart gun raised, ready if Cuvier had some more goons ready to pounce.

This level was setup with rows of animal parts and even large species still being put into a pose. Stopping at the end of a shelf, he glanced out an area that had been converted into a lab like Cuvier had in his building. Power was on to the systems, and three lights above were illuminating the area.

"He's definitely been here." He spoke to Wayne.

"I still am." A deep voice said from behind him just before he was struck by something on his lower back. Flying forward, he dropped the dart gun, and clutched at his side. "I knew you would be along eventually, those worthless fools that were under me, why did I ever bother with them?"

Gritting his teeth, he looked back towards the shelf to see a giant figure slide out from the dark. At least ten feet high, Cuvier had been transformed into an amalgam of species. Legs had been replaced by a snake tail three times the length of his upper body, which itself had become heavily muscular with wide shoulders. Thick dark claws ended each finger, and large white teeth were reflected in the altered head with a beak like nose, and two backward facing ears on the top of his head. His skin had changed to scales, a darker brown along his back and head, with white running along his chest and down the snake tail.

"Now you face a true chimera." Cuvier smiled cruelly.

"I don't really care what you are." Diving for the dart gun, he nearly had it in his hands before one of Cuvier's hands slammed down to smash him into the floor. Before Terry could attempt to move, Cuvier's tail smashed the dart gun. 'Oh crap.' Feeling sharp talons dig into his body, he was listed off the ground, and swung to face Cuvier's monstrous face.

"Your little toy wouldn't have done you any good. But I'm going to enjoy making you pay for ruining my plans." Cuvier drew back his other hand and punched him in the face. Still held by the other hand, Cuvier hit him several more times. Stunned, he pulled out a batarang, and threw it to hit Cuvier in the eye. Roaring, Cuvier dropped him, now on the ground, Terry tried to put some distance between him and the spliced Cuvier. He didn't get far before Cuvier's tail tripped him up, and then wrapped him up in powerful coils.

"Stupid Bat!" Cuvier spat, tightening his hold, and squeezing the air from Terry's lungs. "No, I won't kill you like this. There are so many things I want to do to you." The tail tightened again, and Terry gasped for breath, trying unsuccessfully to free himself. "Nighty night, Batman."

X x x x x x

Pulling to a stop, Ranma glanced at the building, trying to decide if Cuvier really would be so cliché as to hide in a taxidermy studio. Cutting the engine, he took off the helmet, and dismounted the bike. The front door and most of the windows were boarded up, and considering the area, had not been opened for many years. 'Oh well, can't hurt to take a look.'

Kicking in the door, the wood splintered, and the door itself fell off its rusted hinges. "Oops." He winced as the door slid across the tiled floor before stopping.

Once again there was a whine of a siren, and a bright flash of red lights, as a familiar patrol car pulled to a stop next to the motorbike. The officer from earlier stepped out, along with a second officer. "That's far enough."

"Uh, hi." He greeted, glancing between the pair.

"Alright kid, lay down on the ground, and put your hands behind your head."

"What for?" Ranma made no move to comply with the order, intrigued over why he had been followed.

"Motor vehicle theft for a start, now lay down on the ground, and put your hands on the back of your head."

"I'm just borrowing it." He protested.

"You borrowed it a year ago."

"Eh? Oh man." He groaned. 'Batman must have grabbed that bike from some thug.' Settling his eyes on the closet officer, he debated on his course of action.

"I said, get down on the ground." The officer who had helped him earlier tried to force him. Thirty seconds later, Ranma had knocked out both officers, and shoved them into the back of their patrol card and locked the door.

"Sorry bout this." He said through the door while brushing some imaginary dirt from his clothing. "Man, the police in this town aren't very good at their job." Normally he wouldn't have done something like that. But being arrested would have raised complicated questions, questions that he did not want to answer.

X x x x x x

A small electric shock awoke Terry just as his hands were secured in shackles. Looking at the restraints, he was spread eagle within a circle, each foot and hand was firmly secured. It shouldn't be anything for him to break out of this, but Cuvier was slithering himself over to a console nearby. Still dizzy from the lack of oxygen, he just watched.

"It's too bad you won't be around for the revolution Batman. Well－ not as you are now anyways."

"You think anyone wants to live in your freakshow world Cuvier?

"And why won't he be around?" A new voice asked from above him. Looking up Terry found Ranma crouched on top of the rack holding him in place.

"Who are you?" Cuvier demanded.

"I'm someone you tried to kill the other day." Ranma hopped off the rack to land lightly in front of Terry.

"Did I now?" Cuvier leaned in closer to examine the boy. "You smell familiar."

"Yes I was that girl you tried to turn into a snow leopard, magical curse, don't ask." Ranma waved his hand flippantly and Cuvier laughed.

"I see the resemblance now." The chimera sneered.

"You're also going to be seeing my fist if you don't fix me back to normal."

"I suppose you would have something to do with this, playing with my creations." Cuvier looked up briefly to Terry.

"Don't bother with him." Ranma snapped his fingers in front of Cuvier's face. "Whatever you did, he couldn't fix. So if you do, I'll consider lessening the beating I'm going to give you."

"What's to fix? Since I never intended to let you go back, I used a permanent serum on you." Cuvier laughed again. "You really should have taken me up on my offer. Now you'll just be like that the rest of your life, some kind of half thing."

"Who are you calling a thing?" Ranma shouted, jumping up in order to reach Cuvier's face, and punching him with enough force to topple the chimera. Terry's mouth dropped open, he had seen the metal door, but to actually witness inhuman strength in person was different.

"You stupid lizard!" Ranma grabbed Cuvier's tail and with a mighty heave, swung the chimera towards Terry.

'This is gonna hurt.' Terry grimaced at the large form that was hurtling towards him.

X x x x x x

Ranma winced, having forgotten that Batman was still there in his fit of rage. Watching Cuvier knock over the rack the vigilante had been tied up in, the monster's form smashing through one shelf, before settling in the remains of a second. He didn't stop himself from emitting a deep growl and stalking forward over the downed form of Batman.

"Get up you overgrown iguana, I'm not done hurting you yet." Ranma cracked his knuckles. Closing his eyes for a moment, he nearly missed the movement of Cuvier's tail as the monster tried to bring it down on top of him in a lightning quick movement. Dodging to the right, he had to jump vertically to avoid being cleaved in two by Cuvier's claws.

Passing over Cuvier's head in an inverted position, he grabbed the chimera's head, and used it as leverage to kick the former human in the spine. With a shrill cry of pain, Cuvier spun and attempted another claw swipe. Twisting in midair, the attack missed him by a hair.

Back on the ground, he back flipped over a sweep by Cuvier's tail. Bracing himself, he caught Cuvier's clawed hand as he brought it down vertically on his head. Grunting in pain, he kept a firm hold, and slowly pushed it to the side enough to look at Cuvier's face. "That all you got you freak of nature?"

"Not at all!" Cuvier answered, hitting Ranma with his free hand.

The brick wall that he hit never stood a chance, and Ranma tumbled several meters before coming to a stop. Shaking his head to clear away the cobwebs, he felt a large hand grab on to his right leg below the knee. Lifted up off the ground, he dangled upside down briefly before he was thrown forcibly against the concrete floor, his head painfully bouncing off the hard material. Dazed, he barely felt himself get lifted up once again.

"You're still alive?" Cuvier sounded amused at this. "I'll just have to try harder." With a powerful swing of his arm, Cuvier sent Ranma flying back through the brick wall, and into the supper side of a shelf near the top. The wood of the side held, but the rest collapsed away from the impact. Sliding down the inclined plank, his feet hit the bottom, and he unsteadily got to his feet, rapidly recovering from his blow to the head.

Cuvier moved through the destroyed wall, and with a powerful push of his tail jumped at him to stab him with his claws. Dropping to a knee, Ranma rolled to the side in order to avoid the attack. Back on his feet, he stepped forward, and planted a side kick in Cuvier's ribs with his full strength. Ranma felt the ribs give way, even though he couldn't hear the bones break due to Cuvier's roar of pain.

Not stopping, Ranma ran up to Cuvier's front. Evading a weak swipe of the chimera's claws, he jumped up to knee Cuvier in his face. The monstrous man crumpled backwards, his tail lashing angrily as he roared in pain. Landing on Cuvier's chest, he was about to get off but was caught by the flailing monster's clawed hand. It didn't cut him, but it threw him off balance enough for Cuvier to grab on to his neck with his other arm, before the snake tail curled around his lower half.

"Insolent brat!" Cuvier snarled. "I'll pull you apart!"

Struggling to pull the hand from around his throat, Ranma caught movement from the corner of his eye, and Batman landed next to Cuvier's head briefly before stabbing him with three vials that quickly injected the orange liquid contained into him. With a snarl Ranma finally ripped Cuvier's fingers from his throat, and in a instinctive action bit down on the tail holding his waist.

He was released from the constrictive tail, and tumbled to the floor in a heap. "He's butting into me getting to beat on Cuvier!" Ranma snarled, lips curling back to expose his teeth. Jumping to land on Cuvier's head, he knocked Batman away when he tried to inject more of that liquid into the monster. "This is my fight!"

Cuvier made a pained squeal, his body jerking, and convulsing. "I didn't forget about you." Dropping from the man's head, he punched Cuvier in the face before landing on the ground. The chimera staggered back, but not from Ranma's blow.

Cuvier's right arm bulged and contorted, growing until it was long enough to touch the ground. The fingers on his hand twisted and turned at unnatural angles before the bones burst from the hand and turned into a giant claw.

"Ew, I think I'm going to be sick." Ranma held his hands over his mouth and turned to the side.

From Cuvier's waist two legs sprouted, each with a thick bone claw at the end, altering the chimera's stance with the tail acting as a third leg. Next his face melted, lower jaw jutting out in an extreme overbite. "What－ did you do－ to me?" Cuvier's voice came out like he was speaking through fluid, and he tipped forward to throw up a thick green fluid. Ranma took several steps back, feeling like he was going to throw up himself.

Falling into the bile he had spat up, Cuvier continued to shake, and convulse violently. With a final gurgling cry, the large form breathed out, the skin, and flesh underneath melting away. Seeing the soup that was Cuvier spread out to his position, Ranma quickly ran a safe distance away.

"You killed him." He said to Batman, who was crouched on a shelf.

"Didn't really think it would do that."

"You could have at least waited!" Ranma growled.

"Wha－ what?" Batman backed away slightly.

"I wasn't done hurting him yet."

"Stopping him was more important."

"Gah!" Ranma threw up his arms, and turned to leave the building.

"Do you really believe what Cuvier said about you?" Batman asked.

"What do I care? That old guy you work with couldn't do nothing, change of hair color, and occasionally I might act a bit like a cat." Blowing up his bangs, he continued walking. "Better than being a cat."

He saw the flashing lights before he had reached the top of the steps. Peeking out around the corner, he saw several police officers slowly entering the building with their weapons drawn. 'Uh oh.' Quickly analyzing his options of escape without getting shot at now. He leapt up a second story walkway. Wincing in pain, he rubbed at the back of his head. With his adrenaline gone, being thrown into the floor had hurt him more than he would admit.

Waiting till the officers were inside enough, he dropped down into the doorway to walk out, only to be met by another set of officers. He was locked into a momentary staring match with them before they started to draw their weapons.

"Freeze!" They ordered closely together.

"I'd rather not." Taking off at a sprint to his right, he heard the police following on foot rather than shooting at him.

Rounding a corner, he came face to face with the front of an assault patrol car. It was hovering two meters off the ground, the two guns spaced off to the side on the nose swiveled to point at him. The rest of the one man vehicle was shaped like a pill capsule, the propulsion coming from wings placed on the far back.

"Halt." A voice came over a loudspeaker.

"Like I told your buddies." Ranma jumped and was on top of the nose of the vehicle before the driver could react. "I'd rather not!" Running over the cockpit to the back, he did a short hop and kicked one of the wings. The wing broke away, and the patrol car instantly tipped towards that side. Dropping down, Ranma resumed running, pausing only briefly to watch the car careen into the building before the driver could cut the power.

"I think I better get lost for a while." He said to himself, happy that the cops didn't actually know who he was.

X x x x x x

Terry winced, watching Ranma wreck the police vehicle. He was interested in finding out just how Ranma got so strong and durable, but he didn't want to get into a fight with the other teen. Having dropped off a thumb drive with a simple and slightly edited retelling of how Cuvier became a pile of bones and goo, he got into the Batmobile, and sped off back towards Wayne manor.

"I'm sure you heard." He opened up communication with Wayne.

"Saw as well." Wayne answered. "Your friend has to be a meta-human."

"And that is?"

"It's an old term for humans with super powers."

"Any clue on how?"

"Not at this time."

"That's helpful, well I'm going to come back to the cave and get some sleep."

"You should be going after Ranma."

"He can take care of himself, or the police can handle him. Me－ I need sleep. And I can't really fault him for anything he's done as being illegal. We've done worse."

"Get some rest." Bruce conceded his point and cut communication.

"Home Batmobile, home." He leaned back in the seat, looking forward to getting back in bed.

X x x x x x

"This is too lost." Ranma glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He knew the general direction he needed to go, but after destroying the cop car, they had come out in force to find him, pushing him deeper into the old part of the city. There was something in the air, decay he suspected. Few if any of the buildings looked stable enough not to fall in on themselves. Catching sight of a patrol car flying overhead, he ducked into a two story building that looked like it had been a store decades ago.

Glancing out the grime coated window that went along the front of the building, he watched the car go by. Sighing he glanced around the dark interior, the only thing contained within were some empty clothing racks. Closing his eyes, Ranma shook his head. Whatever was in the air was making him feel dizzy, and being in an enclosed space made it worse.

He was just stepping outside when another patrol car found him. Squaring off against the flying vehicle, he watched a large gun slide out from the right side. There was a bang, and a net spread out as it spread towards him. Rolling to the side, he was nearly caught by a heavy weight on one of the four corners. 'Don't these guys ever give up?' Taking off at a sprint, he passed through an alley, and found another patrol car trying to cut him off.

Avoiding another net, he ran along a barrier keeping this section off from one that was lower, and even older. Breathing heavily, waited till he was out of sight, and jumped over the ledge. He dropped ten meters before hitting a metal roof with a steep slant. Unable to keep his footing, he fell on to his back before sliding off. Rolling uncontrollably while he fell, he was able to twist himself just in time to land stomach first on the raised ledge of a roof.

"Ah man." He wheezed, trying to drag himself over the ledge, only to have it collapse underneath him. Crying out, he hit an overhang that broke apart, and fell uncontrollably to crash through the roof, and then the floor of a building below. Grimacing, he picked himself up into a sitting position, and looked upward just in time to catch a wooden support beam to the face.

"This is just not my day." He groaned, shoving the beam off of him. Raising himself unsteadily to his feet, he staggered over to the wall to collapse against it. Feeling at his ribs, it didn't feel like he had broken anyone of them, but it was becoming hard to breath. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, he squinted his eyes to look around the room.

Several tables were setup on the far side with beakers, test tubes, and other lab equipment covered in a thick layer of dust. Rubbing at his eyes, he wondered if he was hallucinating the giant round seed pod positioned near the center of the room, on a round pedestal. Stagger over, he touched it with his fingers before dragging them down the side to create tracks in the dust covering it. Satisfied that he had seen what he saw, he tried to walk away, only to feel a wave of dizziness and nausea work through him. Falling backwards, he fell against the pod, knocking it from the pedestal to roll and settle on the depression he had made in the floor.

Dropping on to his side, he held his eyes shut tight to try and make the world stop spinning. Curling up into a fetal position, it felt like he was burning up.

X x x x x x

Poison Ivy, formerly Pamela Isley, felt the world come alive around her. With a soft pop, sunlight began to stream down on her face. Not bothering to open her eyes, she stood up and stretched towards the life giving rays of sunshine. rose from the giant seed pod she had been held within. Her pale skin with a greenish hue glistened with the moisture that had coated her within the pod. Clothed in a green leotard formed from a fine weave of plants, she breathed in deeply, and finally opened her eyes to see that her lab had been destroyed by neglect.

'How is this possible?' She asked herself. This looked like decades without her hand to provide upkeep. Removing herself from the remains of the pod, she put her feet on the floor, and wobbled unsteadily. Her muscles were weak, as if she had not used them in many years. Nearly stepping on a body, she bumped it with a toe, eliciting a moan from what she could now see was a teenage boy. He was on his back, his face covered in sweat, and he looked to be in pain. (2)

"And what are you doing here?" She asked, bending down to wipe some of his strange white hair from his forehead. As far as she knew this lab was situated upon an area that would had been the site of a toxic waste spill, and would be toxic to most life for several hundred years. Ever since her time at Paradise Meadows or Toxic Acres, a suburb that was stupidly built over a toxic waste dump, she had been using places others could not go for her most delicate of experiments.

It would take nothing to simply let him die from the poisonous chemicals in the atmosphere, but she was in a merciful mood, and he may have some answers to how her lab could have gotten into such a state of disrepair. She had a sneaking suspicion that she was missing vital information somehow, and if he couldn't provide then there would be no harm in her helping him at least get away from this place.

Rummaging quickly through the storage containers and sealed areas of the lab, everything was still in its spot, though nearly all of it had been damaged by time. Gathering just enough of the needed materials to create her toxin antidote, she injected the boy with it. Within two minutes his breathing became regular, and he seemed to fall into a deep sleep. Pleased with her work, she was however surprised when the teen's body suddenly went through abrupt and strange changes.

His face melted into a feline cast, the skin around his eyes gaining a dark outline, and his ears becoming pointed at the tops. He shifted himself side to side before rolling to his stomach, allowing her to watch a tubular object grow down the back of his pants until a furred tail poked out from his right pant leg, and continued growing until it was nearly a foot past his feet.

"My, my, you do have more to you than just being another nature raping human." She said to herself, seeing that the nails on his hands had become white and curved to point forwards to a tip half an inch from the end of the finger. 'My anti-toxin couldn't have caused this kind of reaction on its own.' She thought to herself, wondering what could do this.

X x x x x x

Groaning, Ranma blinked his eyes to focus in on the world around him. He was right where he remembered being, though he no longer felt dizzy or nauseous. Attempting to sit up, he stopped midway through the motion when he realized that there was something in his pants that was being crushed and twisted into ways it wasn't supposed to be.

Feeling this thing that didn't like being crushed with his left hand, he gulped when he found that it was covered in thick fur, and attached to the end of his spine. 'No, no, no, no.' He repeated in his head, horrified as he roughly pulled the tail till it was out of his pant leg, and now free to move behind him. 'But the antidote was supposed to keep me looking human!'

"Oh good, you're up." A pleasant feminine voice with a drawl to her voice commented. Forgetting that he had been returned to a visibly spliced status, he was up, and with his back to the wall in an instant. "Easy kid, if it weren't for me you'd be dead right now. Call me, Poison Ivy."

Realizing that he was being silly, Ranma forcibly relaxed himself. The woman in her early twenties that had spoken had pale skin with a green tint. She was slightly taller than his own girl form, and with a similar voluptuous build. Her bright red hair clashed with her pale skin, while her pale green eyes complimented it. Clad in just a strange green leotard without any shoulders, she was showing off a large amount of cleavage as she leaned against a door frame with her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

"You－ did something to me?" He asked.

"Yes but it wasn't anything that would make you like that. This place is situated on a spot where toxic waste had contaminated the land. You were dying from breathing in the fumes, and I gave you an immunity to such things."

"I－ immunity?"

"Immunity to anesthesia, poison, disease, etc, it's like a super booster shot."

"When does it wear off?" He asked nervously, assuming that this weird ladies claim of a life saving serum was what removed Wayne's splicing antidote.

"Sorry, it's rather permanent."

"No." He stared at his claws. "That－ that was the only thing keeping me human." Could it also make him go full snow leopard again? He didn't want to lose himself and die! Panicking, his eyes shot around the room to notice another doorway, before darting between the two doors, unable to make a decision on which he should dart through. He didn't know why, he just had to get away, he had to find some safe place, somewhere to hide!

"You should calm down." The woman's voice cut through his sudden hysteria. Slowly she sauntered towards him, and he could smell something different in the air. Sniffing more seriously, his nose locked on to the strange and intriguing scent. "You're alive that's what really matters, isn't it?"

"Kind of." He agreed, noticing that the woman was even more attractive now that she was close to him. Behind him, his tail slowly swished side to side of its own accord.

"But I didn't just help you because I'm a good Samaritan. I was wondering if you'd answer some questions."

"Sure." He agreed, happy to help his savior.

"First of all, what year is it?"

"It's 2053." Ranma answered, a bit confused on why that would be her first question, shouldn't she want to know his name?

"Much more time has passed than I thought." The woman idly put a finger to her lips. "Have humans continued to destroy and rape the Earth?" She asked after a moment.

"What?" He asked, confused over her question, and feeling lightheaded. Whatever was in the air was really strong, and it was causing him to have some rather impure thoughts about the leotard wearing woman. Being unused to, and uncomfortable with such thoughts, his face developed a furious blush. "Um, do you think we could maybe get to know each other better?" He asked shyly, thinking that she was being very forward.

This seemed to make her happy because she smiled. "Aren't you just a big sweetie." Her face quickly returned to a more neutral expression. "It seems my pheromones are having a different effect on you. I'm going to stop them now, don't fly off the handle now."

"Okay." He replied absently, not really hearing what she was saying, too busy staring at any part of her that he found interesting at that particular moment.

X x x x x x

Freezing underneath an overhang, Ranma realized that she had not been able to control herself. There was the possibility that she had even slipped into the neko-ken for a time, but it was so hard to remember. She was also female now because it had begun to rain sometime during her vacation from reality. Huddled in a corner with her large tail wrapped around her bare arms, she shivered uncontrollably.

Glancing around from her shelter, she found that she was on the lowest level of Gotham, the cold was due to the buildings and their effect of shading the lower levels from the sun. Not that there was a sun out at the moment, only dark clouds, and rain that had slowed to a drizzle.

'Cuvier is dead, that lady gave me some super cure, and now－ now I'm stuck like this.' She thought sourly. Two days, that's all it took for her life to be ruined far worse than Jusenkyo, all because she had wanted some easy money.

Her priority now was to get some place warm in case the rain started up again, she headed off to find a way back to the upper levels. While moving through the forest of giant buildings, she reasoned that she was overreacting. There was a cure for this somehow. She wasn't doomed to spend the rest of her life being part cat, or at least visually part cat. She just couldn't be.

She would go back to the Tan's, from there she would have to just deal with it until a cure could be found. Wayne should be able to help, though she would have to answer to destroying that clock, and probably marking up his carpets. It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with something like this before. Glancing down at her bust, she really didn't know if she should cry or laugh. First magic and now science twisting her body into shapes it was never intended to be.

'Maybe I could go to Jusenkyo.' She wondered, knowing that it most assuredly would be able to change her body. That had popped into her mind before, but it was always tempered by the lack of information from the Guide who worked there. He hadn't presented any way for a cure even though they had asked. So she had simply ignored that possibility for the most part. Since she may technically no longer be human, maybe it might work as a cure now though. But now that she was literally on the other side of the world, Jusenkyo was out of reach.

Moving through the undercity, she quickly realized just how lost she was, and became increasingly frustrated. It was almost at the point where she was going to lapse into some kind of fit, when she finally heard voices. Immediately she calmed down immensely, and increasing her pace, tracing the source to an abandoned service elevator in the side of a particularly large building. The people talking were a group of thirty Jokers, having setup a shanty town around the elevator. Ranma ducked back behind the wall she had just came around, her eyes quickly scanned and analyzed the threat level they may pose, and found them wanting.

The real question was whether or not that elevator worked. Judging by how the gang had setup their base near it, it was a very good possibility. None of them seemed above the average street punk, which meant they wouldn't be able to touch her. Straightening up, she fixed her clothes to no longer be plastered to her skin from water, and walked out into the open.

"Hi." She greeted, hoping for a diplomatic approach, her sudden appearance startled the group, but they recovered quickly.

"Well well well, look what we got here." A very tall and muscular guy separated other gang members as he came towards her.

"I'm not looking for trouble, I just want the way back up." She explained, the large Joker circling her. Several more Jokers surrounded her, causing her breath to quicken, her mind focusing not on how she could deal with them, but on how she was trapped.

"Check it out, she's all spliced up"

"We got a stray kitty on our hands."

"How about you come hang out with us, we'll show you a good time." The big one suggested. "We got good food, drugs, whatever you want."

"No, I just really want to go back up." She stuttered, having trouble keeping herself calm.

"Hmm, I like that tail." A skinny Joker attempted to grab her tail. Unable to control herself, she hissed angrily, and used her claws to tear the skin on his hands to ribbons. The boy paused for a moment, shocked over the sudden attack, before he screamed.

The other Jokers watched their comrade scramble away from her quickly, their silence finally being broken by the group breaking out into laughter at his plight. Looking around wildly, Ranma waited for the next one to try and attack her.

"Just- just let me use your elevator." She told them, having no clue if something might cause her to kill one of them. This wasn't like the first time she had been spliced, new instincts she didn't know how to handle were throwing her completely out of control.

"Nuh uh, you just hurt one of our buddies, you're going to have to pay us back somehow." The big one risked shaking a finger in her face. It was an action he would regret, because she grabbed his wrist, and nearly crushed it with her grip. Before the man could scream she pulled him down to be face to face.

"Let me go up, or you're all going to end up like your buddy over there." She growled, curling back to expose her slight fangs.

"Okay! Okay!" The Joker pleaded, squirming in pain.

"I'm glad we could come to an understanding." She informed him crossly and released him.

X x x x x x

It took over two hours for Ranma to get back to the Tan's, and by the time she did it was just past ten o'clock. Wherever she went, people kept staring, or it felt like they were, which made her incredibly nervous. Slowly opening the front door, Ranma entered the house, and closed the door silently behind her. Pulling off her ruined shoes, she grimaced at the five tears on each, created by the claws on her toes she had first been reverted to a spliced state.

Dana seemed to be the only one home, lights in the living room were on, and so was the one in her room. Ranma must not have been as silent as she thought because Dana called out, wondering who was home.

"It's just me." She answered rather weakly, not interested in being examined at the moment. She just wanted a really nice hot bath, get something in her stomach, and then to curl up in a nice warm blanket.

"Where have you been all day?" Dana asked as she came out of her room to lean over the railing. "You took off like Terry－ always－ does." The girl trailed off when she finally saw the changes that had been forced upon her.

"I've been out." She answered, heading for the bath. Behind her she heard Dana rush down the steps to follow. Shutting the door behind her quickly, she yowled in pain as she caught her long tail in it.

"You－ you're spliced!" Dana finally exclaimed, following her into the bath area.

"I hadn't noticed." She replied venomously. "Do you mind?" Ranma asked and crossed her arms, wincing when her tail decided to lash to the side in anger, leading to it slamming into based of the sink.

"But－."

"Leave me alone!" Forcibly shoving Dana out of the bath, she locked the door. Dragging her claws along the wood of the door, she sighed and went to turn on the water. Listening the water crashing into the bottom, she was uncomfortable by the load roar this caused. Stripping out of her still damp clothing, she didn't clean herself before sliding into the water.

Back in his birth gender, he simply lounged in the steaming water, letting his core body temperature get back to normal. He felt so content in the warm water, that he found himself emitting a strange rumbling whenever he would breathe in and out. It seemed to come from deep in his chest and throat at the same time. When he realized that was purring, he quickly found a way to stop it.

Exiting the tub, he realized that there was a problem he could not ignore. That being the waterlogged and very heavy tail that was dripping water everywhere. Doing his best to wring it out, as well as using a towel, he only minimized the problem.

"Hey Dana?" He opened up the door enough to see that she was sitting on the couch. "Could I borrow your hair dryer?" He asked slowly.

"Sure." She answered after a moments of hesitation before running up to her room. When she returned to hand off the blow dryer, her eyes never left his face. Snatching the item from her hands, he shut the door again. Firing up the dryer, and snagging a comb from the drawer, he began the task of drying off the tail now firmly attached to him. Thankfully the fur didn't seem apt to become matted, or else the nightmare he was currently in would become far worse.

Finally remembering that he hadn't grabbed clean clothes, he borrowed Mr. Tan's bathrobe just to get past Dana. Heading up to his room, he could feel her eyes track him every step of the way, almost feeling her intense curiosity. Again he made the mistake of shutting his tail in the doorway. Quickly moving past his clumsy action, he got dressed in a set of orange pajamas.

Since he wasn't going to let this get him down, he grabbed a blanket, and went back downstairs. Dana had the television on, but she was focused completely on him. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders to cover all but his feet, he dropped into place as far from her on the couch as possible.

"I saw on the net that Dr. Cuvier's place had been shut down this morning." Dana finally decided to talk to him, after staring at him for a full five minutes. "But why did you get spliced again?"

"I didn't." Shifting his blanket, the tip of his tail flicked like a rattlesnakes; obviously this answer didn't match up with reality for Dana.

"Your tail says differently." She pointed out.

"Yea well I didn't!" He snapped irritably. "I didn't want this, I didn't want it at all."

"Sorry, just looks that way to me. But if it's not, why don't you explain it?"

"Cuvier permanently spliced me the first time, Batman cured me so that I looked human, then some weird lady shot me up with something that supposedly cured me of that, so now I'm back to this." He answered quickly, wishing he had never even heard of splicing.

"I feel like I'm missing out on some info."

"Tomorrow I'll try and find a way to get back to the way I was." He said with determination.

"You do realize that tomorrow is a school day right?"

"I did not." He replied slowly. "I'll just have to call in sick."

"My dad isn't going to like that; well he's not going to like any of this. Whatever it was that you were doing that got you spliced again."

"He'll just have to deal." He gave his thoughts on that. Getting back to at least looking human was far more important than a single day of school.

"Won't you get in trouble with the exchange program if you don't have an excuse? And I know my dad isn't going to lie and say you're sick."

"Slag!" He cursed, figuring that she was right about that.

Dana didn't respond to that, but he could feel her eyes occasionally falling on his tail. "Does it still feel normal?" She asked after a minute.

"Yes." He said irritably, crossing his arms underneath the blanket. Hence why he had twice now shut his tail in the door, he kept forgetting that it was there.

"Would you－ I mean, could I?"

"What?" He asked.

"Well－ can I feel it?" She glanced down at his tail.

"Fine." With a negligent flick, he sent the tail so that it lay across the couch.

"It's so fluffy." Dana commented, running her fingers through the thick fur.

"Great, now I'm fluffy." He groaned, pulling his tail back to wrap around the front of his legs.

"You know that if you show up tomorrow at school like this, Chelsea is going to think you're after her?"

"Slag again!" He fidgeted for a moment, remembering those green cat eyes. Chelsea totally would see this as some sort of pass at her, and he would never, ever, hear the end of it.

"I have to say you seem to be taking this fairly well. It sounds like you had a big adventure, and you might stuck like that. I know I wouldn't be even coming out of my room."

"Cause I might not be able to go back." He gulped, feeling the sudden weight of his situation. "What else can I do?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Dana quickly apologized.

Excusing himself, he headed up to go to bed in order to think about the next day. Should he go to school? Or should he just deal with the trouble of skipping in order to try and get Wayne to cure him back to looking human again?

X x x x x x

The choice was made for him in the morning. Mr. Tan was something more than hostile towards him being spliced. The man had never been happy with the idea of him actually doing it for a day, now it appeared that he had went back to being spliced on purpose. Attempting to explain it had resulted in the man being angered that he was out being a quote, thug.

It was all that he could do to get out of the house without saying something that would cause some rather major problems. Dana's father and his opinions didn't matter, there were far more important things to concern himself with that what some old guy thought. He would abide by the man's rules only because to end up back in Japan would show that he had failed, and the amount of whining and complaining Genma would do, would likely kill him.

"Ranma, you're growling." Dana pointed out. "And you just hit me with your tail."

"Oh." He stopped thinking about adults and how annoying they were to realize that several people on the train he was traveling on were looking at him were clearly nervous glances. There were even several who were suggesting that he was unstable. "I'm not unstable you twips, come over here and say that!" He pointed at the two middle aged women who had said that.

"Calm down." Dana put a hand on his arm. His outburst seemed to confirm the suspicions of several passengers.

"If you don't like how I look you old bag why are you looking at me?" He snapped at another comment.

Ranma was thankful when the train finally reached their stop, no wonder why spliced people were supposed to get aggressive. How could you not be if you had people acting like you were some kind of dangerous animal to your face? Or worse yet, like you didn't even know they were saying it.

"What's gotten into you?" Dana pulled him to the side.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with them? Why don't they learn to keep their mouths shut?"

"Listen to yourself! You're acting like everyone is out to get you."

"Maybe they are." He mused.

"You're not funny." Dana snorted. "Quit being an idiot and let's get to class." Rolling her eyes, she headed off in the direction of the school.

'I'm not an idiot.' He narrowed his eyes, following after her. His new appearance instantly raised a commotion but not like what Chelsea caused, for some reason he was actually being insulted by a couple students who said he was just following Chelsea.

Digging into his locker to pull out his first period books, he honestly wasn't surprised to find that Chelsea was leaning against the locker to his left. She still had those green cat eyes, and a matching grin plastered across her face.

"You're not trying to one up me are you?" She asked suggestively. "Though the tail does give you a certain cuddly charm."

"I'm not in the mood." He responded negligently.

"Maybe I could put you in the mood, we could get together after school, see a movie, or maybe something more private. My dad's off on a business trip, I have the house all to myself."

"No." He said flatly, shutting his locker, and turning to head for his first class.

"What's your hurry? Class doesn't start for another five minutes. Come on, let's make plans." Chelsea continued to pester him, even stopping directly in front of him.

"Are you mental? I said no, leave me alone." Moving around the girl, he found his path once again blocked.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She laughed to herself. "Me, the most popular girl in school, begging, pleading for your attention." Getting in close, she got right up into his face. "I admit I like the chase, but maybe we could make it more enjoyable for the both of us?" She finished in a very sultry tone.

Being this close, Ranma could smell the small amount of perfume that she was wearing, her own personal scent, and something else that he really couldn't place. "I have plans." He admitted, taking another sniff of her, that strange smell was kind of like that weird lady, but far weaker.

"For the whole night?"

"No, shouldn't take that long." Another shot from Wayne should fix him up, an hour at most, and then he would be free to do as he wanted. Though there was that unfortunate incident with the motorbike, but Wayne was beyond rich, it shouldn't cost him anything to fix that old clock.

"How about you come over my place about seven? It's over on Brookridge, second house on the right."

"Sounds good." He agreed.

"I'll see you then, if I don't see you some more during the day." Being close to the same height, she didn't have to stand up very high to kiss him lightly on the cheek. "Later." Having seemed to accomplish her mission, Chelsea trotted off in the opposite direction of his first class for her own.

X x x x x x

"Hey Dana, is it just me or is there something off about Ranma?" Terry asked his girlfriend, watching Ranma chat with Chelsea as they ate lunch by themselves across the lunchroom. "Ya know, aside from the spliced thing."

The first bit of weirdness was that Ranma was spliced again. This was rather contrary to everything he knew from yesterday. He also thought that it would be rude to just come out and ask why Ranma was spliced. As far as civilian Terry knew, Ranma had been in a photoshoot that required 'her' to be spliced, and simply had not changed back.

There was also the obvious problem of who did it? Cuvier was gone, and his business was shut down. Bruce had the ability to create the formula but wouldn't. This would require investigation later.

The second was that Ranma was actually eating lunch with Chelsea. It was no secret that Chelsea had set her sights on Ranma, and the end result was likely going to be disaster. But Ranma had vehemently opposed even going on a single date with her. Now they had plans to get together tonight, at her house.

'Did Ranma just sniff at Chelsea?' He wondered before deciding that yes he had seen it. While subtle, with his training he hadn't missed the small action. 'His nose must be more sensitive now, and he's already so close to finding out about me being Batman, I'll have to keep my distance or else he might connect us.'

"Kind of." Dana answered. "He was so down on himself last night, then this morning on the train he was about ready to attack anything that moved, and now he's seems happy. Honestly I prefer happy over violent."

"Yea that's good and all, but what's up with the splicing?" He decided that asking Dana this question wouldn't be risking anything.

"He wasn't spliced yesterday morning, he took off for the day, and when he came back he was spliced. I couldn't really get a good answer out of him for why. But he said it might be permanent."

"That sucks." He commented absently, confused over how this might have happened, and how he would find out this needed information.

X x x x x x

It was actually fairly easy for Ranma to finish out the day. While he had been adverse to the idea before, he was actually excited to have a date. He couldn't even remember the last time that had happened. Well that wasn't true, there were two or three times that he went out with someone as a girl for one reason or another. But never for actual physical attraction.

'Wait, is Chelsea attractive?' He pursed his lips. 'Yea she's attractive.' He decided, wondering why he had turned her down so much?

After all, all he had to do was go to Mr. Wayne, get him to fix him again, and then he could get to know Chelsea. That brought up a problem, what was he supposed to wear? He didn't really have any clothing that would be called nice. That's what he would do, he'd go buy something that would really show off how superior he was without being gaudy.

When school ended, he dropped off his books, and ignored the world as he strutted off to find some new clothes. Of course he had to decide if he wanted something that matched his hair and fur, or should he plan not to have fur? Maybe he could find something that did both? Surely he could find something that went with white, gray, and black.

At a clothing store, it took him nearly an hour to decide on what he wanted to buy. Everything he looked at was either too preppy, too radical, or didn't look right with his features. Finally he decided on a pair of navy blue jeans and a white t-shirt. It was simple, matched his coloring, and made him look dignified yet casual. It really showed off just how great he was not to require some kind of flashy clothing to pull off such a look.

Paying for the clothing, he nearly got on the train to go to the Wayne estate, but stopped himself, letting it depart. Why should he bother? He felt great, a little put off by some of the looks he was getting, but he was used to being seen as a freak by some people. What was a little extra on top of that? Tapping a claw to his chin, he didn't even think Wayne could do it. It wasn't like the man had been able to help before past saving him from being an actual snow leopard.

With a negligent shrug, he headed off to find some food before dropping off his old clothing. Then he would go find Chelsea's house. Besides, if he did want to get Wayne to try later, it wasn't like the old guy was going to go anywhere. (4)

X x x x x x

Brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, Chelsea hummed to herself, and fluttering her eyes at herself in the mirror of her vanity. The cat eyes would have to go sometime soon, all that stuff with splicing being made illegal would make her a real bad girl, but she liked to live on the line of new fads, and splicing was going to be out soon. Dabbing a small amount of perfume behind her ears, and a small spot between her breasts, she started to get dressed in a green low cut halter top, and white capri pants.

Now all she had to do was wait till Ranma showed up. She already considered possible plans. There was a movie they could go to, or just order something into the home, maybe get some food delivered. She really should have made better plans. If he was punctual, and he better be, he should be arriving soon.

Turning on the net, she rolled her eyes when an announcement preempted the show she had wanted to watch. "The state legislature met today and in an overwhelming majority voted to make splicing illegal. This new law will go into effect in two months and anyone spliced after this time will face possible jail time. Those who are already spliced will need to report to their local hospital in order to receive the antidote. Research into the technology for medical usage will also be restricted."

"Well that's just－." She crossed her arms. Even though she had already been planning to have it fixed, that old people would go so far as to make it illegal irked her. This just cemented in her mind even more that the older generation simply didn't understand or care about her own.

Hearing the doorbell chime, she checked herself one last time in the mirror before heading down the steps to the front door. Looking through a window on the side of the door, she smiled, and opened the door. "You're early." She told him, giving him an appreciative look.

"Mr. Tan was on my case, didn't really feel like listening."

"He can be a real stick in the mud, come on in. Do you want anything to drink?"

X x x x x x

Author Notes

1 – The red bike from the first episode Terry stole from the Jokers.

2 – Ivy is programmed not to think about how she came to be.

3 – After the art shift, it's later revealed in a comic that the Ivy seen on the show was a plant clone Ivy had created to keep Harley company.

4 - If you haven't figured out, Ranma's a few cards short of a full deck. Not firing on all cylinders. Mad as a hatter. Lost his marbles. Yadda yadda. But he will even out to just being really unstable.


	3. Bell the Cat

"Speech"

'Thought'

Edit - Hopefully the format issues should be fixed, seriously thanks Fanfiction dot net for having the worst story filters.

X x x x x x

Chelsea woke before her alarm clock and before her bed partner. Shifting underneath the covers, she didn't often sleep in the nude, but after the activities of last night, there hadn't been any time or desire to put on anything. Looking at the back of Ranma's head, her eyes roamed down his back, tracing the rosette spots that continued down underneath the sheet draped over his waist.

Sliding over, she propped herself on an elbow and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, better get up, it's still a school day." Gently prodding at his spots, Ranma soon responded.

"School should die." He mumbled and rolled over enough to fall off the bed, dragging most of the blankets with him.

"Agreed." She untangled herself and slid over to sit on the edge of the bed. "There's a shower downstairs you can use, it's in my dad's room, just don't clog the drain." Stretching herself out, she decided that she may be late for class today because she was too sore. Remembering her modesty, she pulled some of the blankets away from Ranma to cover herself.

Unlike what some students believed, she did not simply go sleeping around, and last night had been her first time. Judging by how sloppy and uncoordinated both of them had been, Ranma was also just as inexperienced. He was enthusiastic though and there had been something wildly attractive about him. Humming to herself, she dropped the sheet as she sauntered into her bathroom, and pressed the heat selection on the shower to get the water to the right temperature before stepping in.

'Can't skip school, dad's going to spaz enough over me getting spliced.' Honestly she was surprised he didn't see that charge to her account yet and called to yell at her.

X x x x x x

With his clothes in hand, Ranma staggered down the steps to the first floor while grumbling about having to go to school. Yawning loudly, he automatically picked out the second strongest scent from Chelsea's, assuming that it was her father, and followed it to a luxurious room. In the back there was a huge bathroom with both a shower and a large bath with spa jets.

"I don't know if I want a house like this or if I would hate it for making me soft." He shook his head and turned on the shower. Checking the drawers underneath a double sink with a large mirror on the wall behind it, he found a blow dryer, and many other items he associated with girls having. 'Must be Chelsea's mom's stuff.'

By the time he was done grooming himself and getting dressed, Chelsea had been done for some time, and was eating cereal at an island counter in the kitchen while watching the net. 'Awkward.' He thought, taking a seat across from her.

"So." He started.

"So." She did the same, setting down her spoon with a soft clink, and they sat in silence.

"What now?" He finally spoke up.

"How should I know?"

"Well um－" He tried to find the right words.

"I've never done it before either." Chelsea said before he could say anything further.

"Really? I thought girls had." Ranma started to say but was interrupted.

"Lost that while cheerleading a couple years ago. Thankfully it was during practice because I bled a bit." She answered.

"Oh, I didn't know that it could do that other than－ ya know." Tapping a clawed finger on the table, he wondered why that hadn't occurred to him as a girl considering the strenuous activity that he had performed as one.

But that wasn't important at the moment, what was important was how last night he had sex with someone who was effectively a stranger. Why he had done it was the question that was now bouncing around his head. Now that he was thinking clearer about the situation and any responsibilities he may have because of it. Obviously he wasn't going to get married just over having sex, but what if he got her pregnant? He wasn't prepared to support a kid or get married.

Chelsea was the next to speak and broke him out of his internal musings. "None of this has to be a big deal. I wasn't looking to do that and I'm not looking for anything long term."

"Me either." Laughing nervously he remembered his two friends at Furinkan who would be aghast that he had said he went on a date without the intention of having sex at some point. When he clearly had and ended up doing so. "So－ um." Ranma scratched at the back of his head. "You want to－ do something after class?"

"I have cheerleading practice right away, but how about we get together after? We could be study buddies."

"Yea, I'm probably not doing too well at the moment."

"Same here." Chelsea admitted. "Did you want something to eat?"

"Sure." He answered enthusiastically. "And－ can I also get a ride to school?"

"No, so you should probably get running." Chelsea joked and pointed out the cupboard with various cereals in it and grabbed him a bowl and spoon.

"Thanks." He took some of the offered cereal.

"We could go get changed back together." She suggested, putting her own dishes in a washer next to the sink.

Gulping down some of the cereal, he suddenly remembered that he was spliced, and he should be doing anything to be cured. At the same time he felt great. He could see better in the dark, sounds were easier to make out, and there were so many more subtle nuances to smell now. Even just this sugary cereal, it was like a symphony of different flavors all fighting to draw his attention.

Though there was the obvious drawback that unpleasant smells were worse. He also had to deal with the giant tail but that did actually help his already perfect balance for awkward positions. The eye liner he could do without, even if it did make the golden color of his eyes stand out.

"Hey!" Chelsea pushed him roughly on the shoulder.

"What?" He asked, coming back to himself.

"You zoned out, finish up so we can go."

"Ah－ right."

X x x x x x

Ranma had just started to open his locker to drop off his first period book before heading off for gym class, his most favorite class in the whole wide world, when Dana's hand slammed it closed. She had a none too happy look on her face. "Hi Dana." He greeted, if he didn't have so much hanging over his head he would have been far more chipper.

"I had to tell my dad that you were staying at Terry's for the night. You two were working on a project for biology and since it was late you decided to stay over."

"Really?" He laughed nervously, assuming that Mr. Tan had been less than happy about him staying out all night.

"That's your cover story, but I'm not going to do it for you again if you feel like staying out."

"Thanks Dana, it was kinda－ spur of the moment."

"Uh huh." She rolled her eyes. "I'm all for rebellion, but slow it down cause my dad isn't the type to let it go on."

"Honestly I'd like boring for a bit." He answered. "So can I go to class now?" He opened up his locker to shove his book in.

"I'll see you there." She smirked and headed for the gym.

'Boring? Who'd want boring?' He snickered.

In the gym locker room, Ranma started to get changed, with gym class only twice a week, he always made the most of it. As he was pulling off his shirt, the teacher called for him from the small office in the back of the room. Standing in front of the man, Ranma waited for him to speak, even though all he appeared to want is to stare at his spliced features. Tapping his right hand against his leg, he looked at some of the pictures the teacher, Coach Fitz, had on the walls showing past winning with his sport teams at the school.

"Er－ you wanted to see me?" Ranma finally grew tired of the waiting.

The heavyset man leaned back on his chair. "You're going to sit out for class until you're no longer spliced."

"What?" Ranma demanded angrily.

"Parental concern, nobody wants their kids around someone who might go crazy. So, until you're normal again, you'll be sitting off to the side. You have two days and anything after that will have to be made up with writing assignments."

Ranma simmered, fighting to reign in his temper, and the desire to find out which parents had thought taking away his favorite class was a good idea. "And what if I can't change back?" He was the victim here, both by Cuvier's machinations and now the government itself with that anti-splicing law.

"I don't need to know your excuses for wanting to be a cat boy, now get out. You can grab something from your locker to keep you busy but be back in five minutes."

"And if I refuse?" Ranma asked.

"Listen kid." Standing up, the heavy set man took several steps towards him. "You can just go sit on the benches for that little comment."

X x x x x x

"Hey Chels." Dana greeted the other girl after entering the locker room. She had a good five minutes before the class would be starting so there was plenty of time for some small talk while she changed. Personally she needed to get something off her chest about this whole situation.

"Morning Dana." Chelsea answered her greeting and opened up her locker. Another one of her friends, Blade, also had a locker nearby but wasn't there yet.

"Did you and Ranma have fun last night?" Dana asked, sliding her ID card through the reader on her locker, she heard the soft click as the lock disengaged, and opened it.

"Sure did." The currently spliced girl answered far too cheerfully. "Totally lost track of time and so I offered to let him sleep on the couch."

"So what did you do?" She asked while changing.

"Nothing all that big, ordered out for some food－ watched a movie." Chelsea was being elusive and trailed off at the end as if she was thinking of something to say. "Oh! Avoid Sack Lunch, it's not nearly as good as the trailers make it out to be." (1)

"Not my type of movie anyways." Straightening out her top, she reached behind her back to tug on her sports bra to get it in a better position through the shirt. "Chels, I feel like enough of a mother hen about this whole thing already, but my Dad is not going to put up with Ranma being out all the time."

"Your Dad has always been the opposite of schway."

"Exactly－ and I like Ranma, so don't give my Dad a reason to complain about him, and don't do what you usually do to your boyfriends." Dana left out that she thought Ranma wasn't really in a mental condition to deal with Chelsea's usual method of dealing with relationships. That meant that she used them until she got bored then dumped them.

"Relax." Chelsea rolled her eyes.

"That's all I'm going to say." Dana threw her hands up in mock defeat. It wasn't like she could force Chelsea out of her ways. But if the blonde did screw this up then it would definitely put a black mark on their friendship. "So when are you going to get changed back to normal?"

"Tomorrow probably, I have practice after school, and I really need to catch up on homework. I was thinking of going in at the same time with Ranma."

Dana didn't want to voice Ranma's admission that there might not be a cure for him. She was about to point out that Chelsea should just plan a solo trip when there was a loud crash from the opposite side of the lockers a moment before they shook violently.

"What was that?" She exclaimed and quickly ran around to the other side to see Coach Fitz half embedded in the metal of the lockers unconscious. The wall across from the man now had a large hole through it with some of the building material crumbling to the floor. Several other girls were standing away, too confused to do anything other than stare.

"Do you care what I have to say now?" Ranma's voice taunted, her houseguest appeared in front of the man. "Huh? Do you?" He reached out to grab Fitz by the front of his shirt and pull him free from the metal to hold him up in the air.

"Ranma?" Dana questioned, not sure if what she was seeing was real. Sure Ranma was incredible physically but to do this?

"Huh?" Ranma blinked and looked over at her. "What's up Dana?"

"What's up? What are you doing?" She asked.

"Did you just throw him through the wall?" Chelsea asked, her mouth open in shock at the idea that Ranma could be that strong.

Through the hole in the wall, she heard the school intercom chime. "Ranma Saotome to the office please, Ranma Saotome to the office please."

"Awww, what now?" Ranma groaned and dropped Coach Fitz to fall to the floor in a heap. "I'll see you later." He waved and trotted back through the hole in the wall without a care in the world.

Knitting her brow confusion, she looked at where Ranma had left, back to Coach Fitz, and then to Chelsea. "I think there might be something wrong with Ranma." She finally said.

"I slept with a nutcase." Chelsea said in a daze.

"We should probably help Coach Fitz. Go get the nurse." Dana quickly moved to see if she could help the fallen man at all before Chelsea's statement caught up with her. "You what?"

X x x x x x

"You wanted to see me?" Ranma asked, stepping into the principal's office. Sitting behind a light brown desk was Principal Nakamura. He was a short Asian man with a slim build and a head devoid of hair except on the sides. Peering at Ranma from behind round rim glasses, the man didn't say a word for a minute before looking at the pair of policemen standing off to the side.

"These men wanted to ask you a few questions." Nakamura finally said.

"I am officer McCarthy, and this is my partner Jackson." The shorter of the two introduced before continuing. "Mr. Saotome, where were you this past Sunday night?"

"Me?" Ranma took a moment to think up some kind of lie, realizing why these two were probably here. "I was at my friend Terry's house, why? What's this about?"

"Does your friend Terry have a last name?"

"McGinnis." Ranma answered.

"Hmm." The taller officer pulled out a small electronic clipboard and pushed several buttons before holding it up so that he could examine him against something. "When did you get spliced?"

"Uh－ Friday. Cuvier wanted me to be a model for some ad he was going to do." Ranma answered truthfully.

"And this is how you really look?" The officer flipped the pad around to show his school photo.

"Yes." Ranma nodded.

"I see." Flipping the pad back around, the officer pulled out a stylus and started to write something.

Ranma wondered what was being written as the two policemen shared a look that seemed to say they knew something. Technically the only thing he had said was a lie was that he was at Terry's on Sunday. He probably should have come up with something better but it was the first thing to pop into his head. A knock on the door drew everyone's attention as one of the secretaries came in timidly and quickly whispered something to the Principal and then an officer. Even with his better hearing he couldn't make out what was being said.

Officer McCarthy nodded. "We're going to have to ask you to come down to the station."

"What? Why?" Ranma asked defensively. "What did she just say to you?"

"Just calm down kid." The other officer took a step towards him. "We're going to have to sort things out with you assaulting your teacher."

"Hey, that jerk had it coming." He shrugged, not understanding why that would be a problem. Back at Furinkan it was almost expected for students to have to deal with teachers in a physical manner.

"If he did something we'll find it out, but we're going to have to take you down to the station to make sure we get the whole story."

Ranma's eyes darted back and forth between the two officers, both of which had taken aggressive stances, and looked like they were going to try and restrain him. "I can tell you the whole story right here." He took a step back, feeling closed in, and with nowhere to go.

"Don't make this difficult, kid." Officer Jackson said, pulling out a set of hand cuffs.

"Okay then." Ranma wasn't about to let someone lock him up in anyway.

Officer McCarthy was taken down with a knee to the stomach, before performing a kick to the back of his head, driving the man face first into the floor. The other officer had no time to respond before Ranma had grabbed the handcuffs and locked his left wrist to his right ankle. Striking the man with an elbow at his lower back, he quickly dug into the officer's belt and took a second set of cuffs to tie his left ankle up over his back and to his right wrist. Officer Jackson was released and he dropped to the floor on his stomach.

"I take it I'm suspended." He laughed nervously to himself, noticing that Nakamura was on the phone with the police saying that he had just attacked two officers. "Uh－." Gulping, he just realized what he had done. This wasn't him hitting some teacher for being a jerk, he had just beat up a pair of policemen. "I'll just head on home." Quickly backing out of the room, he closed the door behind him.

'What now? What now? What now?' Rushing out of the office, he started to panic, and imagining the endless berating that he would get from Genma for failing on his first solo training trip. It hadn't even been a month and he was going to get deported or locked up. He needed to go someplace and think so he could get his head on straight.

X x x x x x

Ivy delicately stepped on the soft grass of the park spread out before her. This artificial world of the city had nearly driven her insane. The dizzying heights that buildings had reached and the way it seemed to be layered like a cake was nearly too much. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. The people that lived here had stared at her passing, the reason she had found was that her skin was now tinted green. When she had noticed it before Ivy had thought that it was just the bad lighting in her former lab.

Breathing in deeply, she felt the plant life around her in a way that was far more intimate than she had ever known. Before she had merely been intuitive, naively believing that she had insight beyond humans, but now she understood that it had been nothing. The green world around her was like a web and she could feel the wants and needs of every individual strand.

'I must have done this to myself.' Ivy realized. 'Something must have gone wrong and I slept longer than I should have. Far too long.'

Pulling some seeds from a pocket at her hip, she started to sprinkle them around her in a circle. Immediately they started to grow, creating vines that rose up and out before bright red flowers budded, and started to release more seeds to begin the process anew. Closing her eyes, Ivy could see the world around her through her plants, and she guided them as they rapidly overtook the part of the park she was in.

Slowly opening her eyes, Ivy smiled as the world was quickly transformed around her. "I've been away far too long and it's time for them to pay the price for creating this monstrous city."

X x x x x x

'Where's Dana?' Terry glanced towards the door to the classroom for the fifth time that minute. She was at school today and was not known to skip class so why wasn't she coming? He also noticed that Chelsea was missing as well.

Feeling the phone in his pocket vibrate, he checked the clock before heading out of the classroom to answer it. "What's up?" He asked Bruce. Getting a call during the day was a rarity and usually it meant something serious.

"Something big."

"I'd love to help but I'm kind of in school right now." He answered, taking another look around for Dana.

"It also deals with your school."

"How? What happened?"

"Your friend Saotome, roughed up two police officers and a teacher earlier before running off. Even more important, one of the city parks has become a jungle."

"Give me a minute, I'll need to come up with some excuse to get out of class." He didn't bother waiting for a response, Bruce had already hung up before him. Putting the phone away, he was happy for the distraction from class, but he still wished he knew what was up with Dana.

X x x x x x

Barbara Gordon looked at the wall of vines, trees, moss, and who knows what else that was quickly expanding out from the Central West Park. "This brings back really bad memories." She said to herself, turning to watch as a nearby apartment building was evacuated. The reason for the evacuation was because part of this new forest in Gotham was rapidly climbing up the side and working its way into any nook or cranny in the side of the building. It wouldn't be long before the building toppled over and other crews were helping to secure the nearby area to avoid injuries.

Her eyes roamed upwards to several vehicles that were getting an aerial view of the park. Displayed on a nearby screen was video feed from them and very little could be seen through the thick leaf canopy. She had resisted sending anyone into the trees, fearing that she would have to deal with causalities if she did. It wouldn't be long before she had to. Several civilians had reported that there were people who had not made it out before the trees had become an impenetrable wall.

Catching sight of a familiar face, she excused herself, and moved over to a nearby alley and stood with her back against the wall. "Why are you here?"

"Why do you think?" Batman asked.

"It's under control, you should get back to school."

"Do you really think I'm going to do that?"

"Probably not." Letting out a brief sigh, she focused herself. "I'm really hoping that this isn't like Mr. Freeze."

"A blast from the past you mean? Any idea on who it might be?"

"If it is, there could be only one."

"Poison Ivy?" Terry supplied.

"You're not going to listen, but if it is I want you to stay away. I know Ivy and she can be as ruthless as they come. She wouldn't think twice about killing you."

"I'm sure Curaré, Blight, Inque, The Royal Flush Gang, and Shriek would get along with her just fine."

"All the more reason you shouldn't add another person out for your head." Glancing back over her shoulder, she found that he had vanished. 'Stupid kid.'

X x x x x x

Deactivating the suits cloaking device after moving into the jungle, Terry took a moment to get his bearings before trying to move through the brush as silently as possible. He was used to working at night and he was thankful that it was actually quite dark inside the new forest.

'Poison Ivy.' He kept himself focused but allowed his mind to recall the information Bruce had on that particular criminal. She was a doctor obsessed with plants and was a dangerous eco-terrorist. Although obsessed might be too small a word for Pamela Isley when it came to plants. She had apparently been involved in several very disturbing attempts at crime. From trying to turn humans into plants to creating her own family of plant monsters.

'Hmm, I should probably pick some of these for Dana.' He thought, inspecting some brightly colored flowers that were blooming from a vine wrapped around a tree. Reaching out to take one, he stopped when Bruce spoke up over the communicator.

"Ivy always liked poisonous plants."

"So is it her or no?"

"No."

"The Commish thinks it might be."

"Gordon had a lot more interaction with Poison Ivy than me, she's likely just jumping to conclusions. But plant based villainy is a rarity and from what you told me, Ranma encountered a woman who injected him with a shot that removed my splicing antidote."

"Ya so?"

"Poison Ivy did a similar act. Most likely it is some kind of copycat. A person who was able to acquire Ivy's work and is deluded enough to try and continue it. But not the real Poison Ivy."

"I'm not so sure the original should be ruled out."

"It would be very difficult for her to cause any sort of trouble now."

"And why's that?"

"Because I attended her funeral twelve years ago."

"Ah."

Terry shut up at that bit of knowledge and continued moving through the forest. Bruce was paranoid enough to keep tabs on anyone and everyone connected to him and his business. So him having information like that wasn't surprising. The news of the prime subjects death did raise some difficult questions. Something this highly visible was designed to draw attention. A decoy to some other crime seemed unlikely if only because with the preparation required to do this, the perpetrator could have simply accomplished their real objective. The knowledge required in order to cause this required highly specialized training or stealing something very advanced.

"I've looked up any possible high tech theft that could have been used for this and found nothing." Bruce's voice came over the communicator.

'Of course the old man would have thought to check that.' He glowered and slowed to a stop.

It wasn't exactly a clearing he had stumbled upon but there was a shaft of sun that was being given free access to reach the ground. Basking in the sunlight was a beautiful woman in her early twenties with long red hair, pale green tinted skin, and wearing little more than some skin tight dark green leotard. 'Oh wow.' He tried to keep his eyes under control and used little mini-Dana's to squash any impure thoughts. All the new plant life seemed particularly active around the woman, with vines literally rising up from the ground just for her to touch them like a pet.

"You getting this?" He asked Bruce.

"It can't be." Wayne answered his question.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Take what as a yes?"

Terry froze and slowly turned his head to the left to find the familiar if altered face of Ranma peering out at the woman right next to him. He had no clue how to respond other than the stare dumbfounded at the other teen. "What are you doing here?" He whispered after a full minute of staring.

"I saw on the net that this was going on and I thought I'd check it out." Ranma answered with a shrug. "Noticed you moving around so I followed."

'I don't know whether I should punch him or ask for tips on how to be that sneaky.'

X x x x x x

'It's her.' Ranma's eyes widened momentarily at the realization that he was looking at the woman responsible for wrecking his life. He was about to charge out into the small clearing that she was sitting in when something tightened around his right ankle. 'Hmm?' Looking down, he found that a vine as thick as his arm was rapidly climbing up his leg. There was a snapping noise and the vine pulled taught momentarily before he suddenly found himself being flung through the air. Flailing his arms wildly, the plant holding his leg abruptly stopped, and he was left hanging upside down in midair.

"Yum, little birdies." He moaned, his head spinning from the sudden change in perspective along with all the blood rushing to it.

"Well－ hello boys." A familiar female voice purred with a slight drawl. Ranma regained his composure and found himself with the inverted view of the red haired woman who had injected him with something. "I didn't think I would see you again." The woman told him.

"Er－ hi." Ranma greeted, noticing that strange smell she had again. It was kind of like what he remembered from Chelsea the previous day only much stronger.

"Ah ah ah!" She tsked at Batman as several more vines wrapped him up completely. "I'm simply enjoying myself too much to let you ruin it. This will also give me a wonderful opportunity that I never took so long ago." Sauntering up to Batman with a slow gate that Ranma couldn't help but watch every moment of, the woman reached out for the vigilantes mask. "It'll be so nice to know just who is the caped crusader."

"I'd rather you didn't." Batman answered and as soon as the woman's hand had touched the mask she cried out in pain as a visible bolt of electricity arced into her hand. "Since we have time to talk, how about you tell me how you're alive?"

"Am I supposed to be dead?" She asked putting a finger to her lips.

"You don't get it do you? The Commish is going to tear through here to get out the people stuck and to find out who's responsible. I would give you five or ten minutes before they start clear cutting." Batman threatened.

"Yes I knew that would happen at some point." Ivy moved within arm's reach of him. "But why don't you provide me with some amusement before I need to make a big get away?"

"Amusement?" He asked, wondering how he might help her out. Vaguely he heard Batman tell him something but he ignored it to stare into her eyes.

"Play with Batman, won't you?" Ivy looked up at the vine holding his leg and he was slowly set down on the ground. "Make him black and blue."

X x x x x x

'This is going to be less than fun.' Terry thought to himself as Ivy actually released the vine holding him. Ranma was obviously in an unstable state from his earlier actions and with the way he was looking at the woman now, was in even less of one.

"Poison Ivy can use different chemicals to control people." Bruce's voice informed him about that fact again. "And they seem to have a particularly strong effect on him."

'Thanks old man, great timing, and just fantastic advice.' He thought sarcastically and recalled the kind of damage Ranma could do. Terry had no time to debate his options or talk his way out of this because Ranma had planted a fist into his stomach. The shock absorption of the suit barely kept him from having Ranma rip his spine out. Three more punches came in rapid succession before Ranma spun around completely on his heel to kick him in the face. Slamming into a tree, he bounced off to the side, and landed face first on the grass.

"Ow." He groaned while struggling to breath.

"You need to get up and put some distance between Ranma and Ivy." Bruce's voice carried over the ringing in his head.

Two hands grabbed him from the back of his suit and pulled him up to his feet. Uninterested in playing Ranma's punching bag any further, he activated the rocket boots, and shot up through the canopy into the sky. Opening the wings under his arms, he cut the power to the boots down to minimum, and hovered. Rubbing briefly at his jaw, Terry struggled to come up with a strategy for beating someone who physically outmatched him to such an extent.

Terry's eyes widened as Ranma followed him up through the leaves. Without any assistance the teen reached nearly thirty meters above the top of the trees. Trying to dodge, he caught a downward kick to the back rather than on top of his skull. Spinning briefly as gravity took over, he righted himself, and shot off to head towards a building on the edge of the park. Landing in a crouch, he clutched at his back and ribs.

"This is not my day." He grimaced. Even with the shock absorption built into the suit, it still felt like Ranma had been running him over with a truck. Turning back to the park, he didn't see his mind controlled friend making anymore magical leaps. "Any ideas old man?"

"Ivy's ability to control men has always been a problem. She took me by surprise several times."

"There an antidote?"

"Whatever chemical she is using just needs to run it's course."

"Hmm, men huh?" Rubbing at his stomach one last time, he stood up straight. "There might be something I can do then."

X x x x x x

Crouched on top of a tree, Ranma glared at the building Batman was on. Without the ability to fly, he lacked any way to close the distance between himself and the vigilante. Laughing to himself, he now knew without a doubt that he was a better fighter. All the news and attention Batman received was undeserved. His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as Batman leapt off the roof and shot towards him. Waiting to knock Batman from the sky, the vigilante never got close enough, choosing to swerve and head deeper into the forest. Ranma followed immediately, leaping from branch to branch, and never letting his eyes leave the black figure.

Seeing Batman drop below the tree tops, Ranma landed on the nearest spot before dropping down to the floor below. Unable to locate his focus right away, he listened for sounds of movement. To his right a whistling was his only warning before a manriki came flying out of the plant growth at his feet. Leaping over the first, he was forced to avoid a second by twisting horizontally. A third nearly caught him off guard but he reached out and caught one of the weighted ends before spinning around completely and throwing it back at the thrower. (2)

Landing on all fours, he was off and moving towards Batman without hesitation. Diving through the brush, he missed a line stretched across leg height that tripped him, sending him into a front flip that left him lying on his back.

"Here kitty kitty." Batman's voice taunted out of sight.

Growling, Ranma's head quickly shot back and forth, looking for the source. "Don't call me that!"

"But you're so fluffy wuffy adorable. How bout I give you a nice scratch behind the ears?"

"Shut up!" Running up to the tree he thought the voice was coming from, he slashed across it with his right arm. The tree momentarily stayed up before toppling over, filling the quiet forest with the harsh snaps of tree limbs as it fell.

"Did I touch a nerve?" Batman laugh derisively and on the move.

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Ranma took off after Batman, wary of any possible traps that might be in the way. Bursting through some brush, he slid to a stop in mud next to a small pond. Inspecting the ground for tracks, he quickly decided that he must have passed by the vigilante.

"Gotcha!" Batman exclaimed from behind him. Turning, he nearly caught a foot to the face, but Ranma dropped to his knees, allowing the black figure to sail past him, and fall into the pond.

"No, I got you!" Ranma snarled as he jumped in after Batman.

X x x x x x

Ranma sat up and slowly opened her eyes, feeling some echoes from a pleasant dream she had been having. "I'm in a forest." She noted intelligently as the reason behind her location came back to her. There was a moderately sized pond in front of her but everything else was the large forest created by Poison Ivy. 'Wait, Poison Ivy?' Crouched next to her was Batman and looking down she saw that her clothing was completely soaked.

"Oh good, didn't think that would pass out like that." Batman informed her.

"Huh?" There was something about fighting Batman but she couldn't really figure out why.

"Poison Ivy was controlling you. But it only works on guys so I got you to switch." He explained. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'll live." Grimacing, she quickly got to her feet upon realizing that her tail was pinned underneath her in the mud. "Maybe not." Her grimace increased as she imagined getting all the mud out of the fur.

"Listen, the police should be coming in to clear everything, so just stay here." On Batman's back, two wings expanded from behind and underneath his arms out to his hands. "I need to go stop Ivy before she gets away." Without waiting for a response, rockets on his feet lit up.

"Wait just a second!" Ranma shouted and grabbed him by the ankle. Briefly pulled up off her feet, the rockets quickly shut off and they both landed back in the water with a splash. "If you think I'm going to sit by after someone tried to screw with me again! You have to be the biggest idiot I've ever met."

"Why can't you just stay out of the way?"

"Why can't you?" Grabbing the suit around his chest, she dragged him down to eye level, and paused. Taking a few sniff with her nose, she found that without the heavy scent from Poison Ivy covering Batman she could pick up something else. "Terry?" Seeing Batman's eyes widen momentarily was all the confirmation she needed. "You're Batman?"

"Who's Terry?" Batman asked and she punched him in the face as a retort. "What was that for?" He asked as he clutched his nose.

"You idiot, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I don't tell anybody." He paused and took a deep breath. "That's the point of a secret."

"So?"

"So shut up, go turn yourself into the police, and let me do my job."

"What are you stupid? Why would I turn myself into the police?" She asked and planted her hands on her hips, completely clueless to why she would be in trouble.

Terry held up a hand and started to tick off fingers. "All the stuff you did to the cops trying to get at Cuvier, the ones you hit earlier at school, throwing a teacher through a wall, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more."

"What? When did I hit a teacher and some more cops?"

"You're not funny Ranma." Terry was able to shoot up out of the water and into the air with his rocket boots before Ranma could stop him. "Just let me handle this."

"I'm not being funny!" She shouted as he moved out of hearing range. "What did I do?" Slumping her shoulders in defeat, she sighed, and looked around the small pond she was currently standing in. "I didn't do anything." Wading through the water, she tried to remember the events Terry, or maybe she should call him Batman, had described.

X x x x x x

Barbara Gordon checked the incident report as she gave her husband some details on what had happened. Whoever had perpetrated the rapid forest growth had vanished while they were evacuating the high rise before it could topple over. When it did finally fall, as far as they could tell, no one was hurt because it had fallen on the empty park. The area was cordoned off, utilities were stopped, and cleanup crews would start sifting through the rubble in the morning. It could have turned out a lot worse considering.

"I should be home in a couple hours, don't wait up." She told her husband, wishing that she could drop off her mundane duties to someone else.

Leaving her desk, she headed out into the station to take a brief break, and take a short walk outside the station. She took a detour to check and see if anyone who had been trapped within the park were still making statements. Jumping backwards, her long out of practice instincts saved her from being run over by a desk that flew out the nearby room to embed itself deeply into the opposing wall.

"I answered your stupid questions!" A teen girl's voice yelled and one of Gordon's officers hesitantly appeared backing out the door.

"Problems?" She asked, finding that it was a small Asian girl who had thrown a metal table weighing close to forty pounds like it was a frisby. The fact that the girl was spliced with some kind of cat could perhaps account for the extra strength.

"Commissioner." The officer quickly straightened up, clearly embarrassed to be seen cowering from a young girl.

'Boys.' She mentally rolled her eyes, quickly remembering many times where she made grown men cower from just a look. "Isn't she one of the few trapped in the park earlier?" She asked, not acknowledging the three other officers who showed up in response to the outburst.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Then why is she still here?"

"Discrepancies." The man gathered up a folder to hand to her. "No ID, no matching prints, she claims to be a boy named Ranma Saotome, who we have a warrant out on."

Inside the folder was a photograph of the boy dated earlier in the day who looked to be the girl's twin, right down to the splice. "Well is she under arrest for anything?"

"Vandalism?" He looked out at the table in the wall.

"See to the clean up." She ordered, deciding to have a change of pace, and indulge herself in a bit of a mystery.

"Ma'am." The officer nodded.

"Since this room is unusable, would you follow me?" She asked while gesturing to the spliced girl to follow. "Just to dots the i's and cross the t's."

"Can I leave then?" The girl asked tiredly.

"I don't see why not." She answered, silently adding the caveat unless there was wrongdoing. It was a short walk to the room next door, and she sat down casually at the chair next to the table. The girl, claiming to be the boy Ranma, sat down across from her irritably. Hopefully the small girl would open up if she was talking to another female. "I agree, it's been a long day for me as well. Why don't you tell me why you weren't in school?"

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember?"

"Do you have a hearing problem? I don't remember. I tried to tell your flunky that the last thing I remember was having breakfast then going to school." Ranma answered before developing an intense look of concentration. "Even that's kind of hard to remember."

Gordon sat in silence watching the girl have an internal battle with herself. "So you don't remember anything about the park?"

"Some." Ranma's eyes darted around evasively. "A woman, named Poison Ivy."

Barbara didn't have to hide her shock because she had known that had been the culprit. Having it confirmed was vindicating though. "Poison Ivy? Could you describe her? Start with how you met her." She asked.

"I don't know, she was just there, what part of I don't remember is hard to understand?" Ranma explained with increasing agitation.

'Sad to see a perfect example of why splicing is so bad.' She didn't know how to approach unstable people who weren't psychotic villains. "Please, I'm just trying to help." She reached over to try and put a reassuring hand on Ranma's own but the girl pulled away quickly.

"I guess." Ranma closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. "I met her the other night, there was this－ it was a toxic spot, and she gave me this shot she said would protect me. It's why I'm spliced again."

"You mean you've met her before?" This was certainly starting to get into a weird territory.

"Yea for about five minutes."

"And why is she responsible for you being spliced－ again?"

"That bastard Cuvier was having me model for some photoshoot last Saturday, that he never paid me for. He gave me a perma dose that Batman reversed but then this shot put me right back to this." Ranma gestured disgustedly towards herself.

"It seems you get around." Barbara was reasonably surprised by the turn of events the teen in front of her must have gone through if the story was true. "Just so that I have your story straight. Dr. Cuvier spliced you to be a model with a permanent solution. Batman provided you with an antidote." She would have to contact Bruce on that. "But then you ran across Poison Ivy while in a toxic part of the city and she injected you with something that reversed the antidote." This would have required the girl to be in the very bowels of the city but it was possible.

"Pretty much, also probably stuck like this."

'Yes, Bruce would definitely be able to make or break this story.' Judging by the story, Bruce would know firsthand from when his new errand boy was involved. "Do you happen to remember where this toxic site was?"

"Kind of, I might be able to find it again." She answered with a shrug.

Closing up the folder and leaning back in the chair casually. "All that aside, why do you not have any identification?"

"I must have lost it." Ranma shrugged again with far less confidence.

"And claiming to be the boy in this file?" She patted the folder. "Most of the people we get here using an alias pick one that wouldn't get you arrested."

"Um－." The girl floundered for a response and fidgeted nervously. "Can I use the restroom?"

X x x x x x

'Why am I in a girl's bathroom?' Ranma asked himself, still wet from using water from a sink to change back to male. Having been in this situation before, he knew that he must not be seen leaving. Avoiding the immediate concern of why he didn't know how he came to be here, he checked out the door and saw only an elderly woman taking to a police officer with their backs to the door. Across the hall was a male room and if he moved quickly enough he should be able to make it appear that he was leaving from there.

Silently hopping across the hall, he opened the men's door, and was just making it appear that he was walking out when the two noticed his presence. "Afternoon." He greeted before trying to walk away. He needed to figure why he couldn't remember why he was here.

"Hold it." The woman demanded.

"Yes?" He asked slowly, unsure if he had met them or not.

"Ranma Saotome?" The officer asked.

"That's me, unless there's another Ranma wandering around." He answered with a shrug.

"Well this is convenient." The woman commented. "Ranma Saotome, you're under arrest."

"Wait, for what?" He asked incredulously.

"Grand theft auto and the assault of a police officer to start." The woman answered. "Officer Daniels."(3)

"Down on the floor with your hands on your head kid." The officer pointed at him with one hand and poised his other over a pistol in a holster at his right hip. Ranma reacted without thinking and planted a palm strike into the officer's stomach, sending the man flying back several meters to land on the floor with the wind knocked out of him.

"Sorry bout that, hope I didn't hurt your buddy too bad." He apologized to the woman and started to walk away, dismissing her as a threat.

"Don't take another step." She commanded and actually drew out her weapon. Ranma slowly turned to look at the older woman and cocked his head to one side. "You're under arrest kid, it's not up for debate."

"I was never good at debate" Dodging to the side of her arm, he tried to grab her hand so that he could twist the gun out of it but she was quick enough to avoid letting him get the proper hold. His eyes widened as the barrel nearly swung back towards his body but he was finally able remove it from her grasp, and put several steps between them. "I don't like guns." He told the woman before ripping the slide from the grip with a small growl.

"The old fashioned way then." The woman actually threw a punch at him.

"Hey you're going to hurt yourself." He let her get the shot in, unconcerned that an elderly woman could pose a threat to him. That thought died when after the punch to his left cheek failed to connect, he found his arm painfully wrenched into a lock before his face was driven into the wall. His feet were then kicked out and he was thrown to the floor on his stomach. Snarling, he simply brute forced his arm from her grasp, and planted a foot in her chest. She hit the wall before crumpling to the floor like a rag doll.

Any remorse he had for taking out the elderly woman had to wait because suddenly he was the attention of a whole lot of police. 'What am I in a police factory?' (4)

X x x x x x

Dana let the curtain fall back into place of her front window after spying briefly on the two police officers waiting in a patrol car at the street. They had given her a small device to use if Ranma returned to alert them. Shaking her head, she placed it on a nearby table, and went to change into her pajamas. She paused at her doorway upon catching sight of a small red spot outside the door to Ranma's former room. Kneeling down next to it, she realized that it was blood just before hearing someone whisper her name from inside the dark room.

"My dad isn't home." She stood up straight to address Ranma.

"Just being cautious." He said, leaning against the door frame without a shirt showing off a square bandage over his stomach. Catching her concerned look he grimaced. "I ended up in a police station somehow and they really didn't want me to leave."

"They shot you?" Dana asked in shock. The small amount of information she had been given was that they were looking to arrest him for the actions at school earlier.

"It's not that bad, hurt more digging it out." He winced dramatically in mock pain. "Barely got past the skin so it shouldn't have hit anything."

"You're insane." She groaned. "You get shot and play it off like a bad papercut."

"I might be." Ranma answered sincerely and finally flicked on the light to show that his things had been packed up.

"Not that anybody ever listens to me－ but why don't you just turn yourself in? Get to a hospital at least?" Her brow furrowed in concern. "Get help."

"Easier to just go back to Japan." He shrugged and sat down on the bed. "I just came here to get my stuff and clean up."

"How did you get past the cops outside?"

"I just came in through the back." He answered simply.

"So this is goodbye then?" Dana felt horrible about this situation. Ranma was her friend and apparently he had just been thrown under the bus of life.

"Guess so, I'll be in touch." Gingerly he put on a red silk button up shirt.

"You better." Crossing her arms, she gave him the most disapproving look she could. "Good luck I guess."

"Thanks."

X x x x x x

Author Notes:

1 - Bonus points if you know where this is from.

2 - Japanese weapon formed from a chain and two weights at the end.

3 - That motorbike Ranma was caught riding in chapter 2.

4 - Hey look an Archer reference. Season 2 episode 12, where he's being chased by the Russian soldiers.


End file.
